Forget and Forgive
by Lacks Gravitas
Summary: Keitaro's had another "accident" and this time, all of the girls have a finger in this pie. It's not about blame, though. It's not even about reparations. It's about love, compassion, and most importantly of all: forgiveness.
1. In Memory

**Forget and Forgive**

Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu.

A/N: In one of the reviews for this story, **Starfire99** suggested that I ought to address the all important incident from which all other plot points flowed, even going as far as saying my story would forever be incomplete without it. I thought about it, and I agreed. It's basically an AU version of the end of _The Journey West_ production put on by the Hinata Sou residents without Seta or Sarah in it. As for Chapter 1 proper, it starts off identically to the original story but ends much differently…

Unfortunately, this completely screwed up the rest of the chapters because the tone of the story changed A LOT. Chapter 2 had to be completely rewritten (it's not even the same POV character anymore) and I'm still figuring out what other parts, if any, can be retooled to fit the new plot or if I should just toss it all out. I also changed the title from _Patchwork Love_ to _Forget and Forgive_.

It is my personal belief, though it might just be my oversized ego talking, that the story is better than before. But, as ever, I am at the mercy of my readers. I can't apologize enough to the fans of the old story I know I will surely alienate with this decision. I didn't make it lightly. Thank you, all of the loyal readers of Patchwork Love. I'm hoping and praying that the revision meets with your approval, but I know it won't with everyone. Please believe me when I say that I'm sorry. I wish I could offer more than my apologies.

That said, I point the finger at **Starfire99**! Feel free to direct your thanks or your flames to him/her! But seriously, I always take comments about my stories seriously. Unlike _real_ authors, us fanfiction writers can tailor our work to better meet reader demand, though I'm unsure if mob mentality in literature is really a healthy thing… In any case, whether you love or hate, like or dislike, what I've done, don't be shy and please leave a review. Who knows? Maybe next time it'll be _your_ comment that makes me scrap my story and start from scratch.

**Prologue**

"Urashima!" Motoko's clarion voice rang throughout the makeshift theater. "I mean, Son-Goku! Fight me now or your dear Sanzo-sama's life is forfeit!"

"M-M-M-Motoko-chan?!" Keitaro spluttered in panic, looking as though he might wet himself from sheer terror. "W-What are you talking about?! I don't stand a chance against you!"

Motoko snorted derisively. "Does your cowardice run so deep that you will abandon your loved ones at the first sign of danger? Small wonder that they call you the Monkey King." She turned her head and spat on the ground. "Because you certainly aren't a man."

Keitaro recoiled at the accusation but his eyes never left Motoko's weapon. Beads of sweat glistened on his brow as he took a step back. "Isn't that a little harsh? This is just a play, after all. You know that I can't beat you!"

"So you have given up before even trying?" Motoko curled a lip in contempt. "I see that you are a wretch as well as a coward." She sheathed her sword. "Go, then. Flee with your miserable life. I'll not taint my blade with the blood of such an unworthy foe."

Provoked by her goading, a glint of indignant rage burst to life in Keitaro's eyes. "Hold on! What gives you the right to talk down to me like that? I wasn't raised since birth as a successor to the techniques of the Shinmeiryuu! I'm just an average guy. You expect me to walk into a fight that I have zero chance in winning? What kind of choice is that?! I'm a coward if I run but I'm a fool if I stay!"

Motoko flashed a cruel smile. "So the frightened monkey still gnashes his teeth at me? You forget, Son-Goku; True strength lies not in fire and steel. This is not a battle between a sword and a quarterstaff, but between _you_ and _me_. The victor shall be the one with the strongest will, and you have already shown me that yours could not support the weight of a feather. I pity Sanzo-sama for having placed her faith in such an undeserving weakling."

Keitaro let forth a savage cry and readied his quarterstaff. His stance suggested that he may as well have been holding a mop, but his eyes blazed with the fires of his soul. "We'll see about that! You can doubt my courage and you can doubt my strength, but _nobody_ has a stronger will then me! I've devoted my entire life to fulfilling a promise I made long ago to someone important to me. I've overcome every obstacle that's ever stood in my way, and not even _you_ can stop me, Moto— er, Bull King!"

He turned to Naru, who was still chained to a stone pillar in the middle of the stage. "Fear not, Sanzo-sama! I, your loyal servant Son-Goku, will rescue you from the evil clutches of this cruel monster!"

Naru blushed a deep red and, somewhat surprisingly, so did Motoko.

"Enough! I see you have steeled your resolve, Son-Goku." The edge of the kendo heiress' blade glistened in the moonlight once more. "I deem you worthy to face me."

Keitaro bowed low. "I am honored, Mo— Bull King."

Motoko returned the gesture before commencing her attack. "I promise you a quick death!"

She dove forward, making a beeline towards her enemy. Keitaro barely had time to brace himself when Motoko made her first cut. Miraculously, he managed to block the brunt of the blow with his own weapon, but seconds later the staff split in two. Gaping at the two clumsy sticks he now held, Keitaro pushed aside his shock and counterattacked with a low sweeping motion intended to knock his opponent off her feet. Motoko dodged it easily.

"Good reflexes and improvisation," Motoko acknowledged, a half pleased, half condescending smirk on her face. "But you're still an amateur."

"It's not like I've pretended to be otherwise!" Keitaro yelled, discarding his broken weapon as he dove to take cover behind a rock.

"You can't hide from me!" Motoko declared, readying her stance. "Shinmeiryuu Secret Technique: Rock Splitting Sword, _Ni-no-tachi!_" A shockwave flew from the edge of her blade, obliterating the boulder into finely ground pumice.

Keitaro stared at the remains of his shelter. "T-T-That could have been me…" he whispered numbly. His eyes met Motoko's, hers filled with a grim resolve and his with amazement, and a touch of fear.

He turned and ran. "I'm going to die!"

Motoko took off in pursuit. "Stand and face me, Son-Goku! _Ni-no-tachi! Ni-no-tachi! Ni-no-tachi!_"

The stage became a war zone, Motoko's Rock Splitting Sword technique proving faithful to its name. Dense clusters of high velocity wind sheared apart everything in their path. A thick shroud of dust enveloped the entire area, lowing visibility to mere centimeters.

"_Ni-no-tachi! Ni-no-tachi! Ni-no-tachi!_" And still Motoko's assault continued unabated, the explosiveness of her attacks threatening to reduce everything to rubble. The kendo heiress never noticed it, her soul consumed by the thrill of battle. _This_ was where she belonged. _This_ was what she was _born_ to do! Together, she and her sword would cut down any foe foolish enough to oppose them.

She felt content. _Whole. _And to think, Tsuruko had thrown it all away for a _man._ Hmph. Motoko was married to her blade and she could ask for no finer partner.

"STOP!!! Motoko-chan!"

A desperate voice cut through the battle song ringing in her ears. She stilled her hand and, slowly, regained her senses.

And she saw the carnage around her.

It was like setting foot in a disaster area. She heard the cries of screaming children in the audience. Everything lay in pieces. Save for the central pillar that still towered in the middle of the circular stage area, nothing remained standing. As the dust cleared further, she could see the children who had been screaming, their bodies and clothes covered in grime. Even their tears were brown and muddy.

"What have I done…?" she asked in a mortified whisper. Her sword slipped out of her hand and fell to the ground in a anticlimactic _clang._

Haruka came clambering up to her in a seething rage. "Have you gone nuts?! You could have had us all KILLED! Look at this place! What the hell am I supposed to tell these kids' parents?! Oh, you had _better_ pray that no one got injured, or so help me—"

"Haruka!"

The tea house proprietor's lecture was cut short by a shrill, desperate plea.

"Haruka, hurry! Please! I-It's Keitaro! He's hurt!"

Haruka and Motoko simultaneously snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. In the middle of the stage they saw Naru kneeling over the unmoving body of the Hinatasou apartment manager. Motoko had never seen Haruka move so fast than when she darted to his side. The kendo heiress followed behind slowly, her mind still numb over the havoc she had wrought.

"Hey! Hey, Keitaro! Snap out of it!" Haruka growled, slapping the ronin's cheeks lightly. "Come on, I know you're made of tougher stuff than that! Wake up!"

Keitaro did not move for several moments, but then finally a cough escaped his lips. He opened his eyes and then… smiled. "S-Sorry to worry you. I'm fine." Then he bolted up. Haruka restrained him so that he was still sitting, but no longer laying on the ground. "W-What about Narusegawa? Where's Narusegawa?"

"I'm right here," Naru responded, reaching to clasp his hand. "I'm okay. Not a scratch on me… thanks to you."

"Good," Keitaro deflated in relief. "Good. I'm glad."

Meanwhile, Haruka was eyeing the heavy scratch marks on his back. "What happened? Did something fall on you?"

"N—"

"No."

Keitaro opened his mouth to deny it, but Naru beat him to the punch. "No, Keitaro… He… One of the shockwaves from Motoko's attacks was headed straight for me and he… He protected me."

Motoko's eyes widened in shock. She'd been too busy ruminating over her loss of self-control and only then noticed the scars on Keitaro's back.

"What have I done?" she whispered again. "What have I done?!"

Haruka, satisfied her "nephew" was safe for the present time, left him in Naru's care jumped up and grabbed Motoko by the collar. "I'll tell you what you did. You turn a little children's play into a god damned massacre. You leveled the stage to a pile of rubble. You kept flinging those damned mini-sonic booms all over the damned place like some sociopathic lunatic and hit Granny Hina's grandson, and god knows who else, in the process."

_Smack!_

Motoko's left cheek suddenly found itself imprinted with a red, hand-shaped rash.

"If Keitaro hadn't screamed at you when he did and put a stop to your rampage, how much worse do you think this could have been? What the hell was going through your head?! Were you_ trying_ to commit mass murder or does it say somewhere in the script that the Bull King is supposed to freak out like some lobotomized mental patient?"

"I… I didn't…" Motoko whimpered helplessly.

"Think?" supplied Haruka. "And you're only realizing this, now?" She sighed, bringing a hand to her forehead. "We'll talk about this later. Right now I want you to get your act together and help evacuate the kids, provided they don't flee in terror at the sight of you."

"Yes, Haruka-san," Motoko nodded and proceeded to obey the older woman's orders. She was correct, of course. There would be time to sort out her thoughts later. At the moment, she needed to do everything in her power to aid the victims of her rampage.

"Wait, Motoko-chan."

She'd only made it a few meters away from ground zero when Keitaro's voice stopped her. She paused, turning briefly to face him but unable to look him directly in the eyes.

"Yes, Urashima?"

She expected a reprimand. An insult. An accusation. Even hatred. She was prepared for it.

"I know how you must feel, but don't beat yourself up too much. We all make mistakes. We just have to make sure to learn from them so that they don't happen again. I think I got the worst of things, and here I am, still talking and breathing. And regardless of what anyone else thinks, I don't blame you."

For reasons beyond her comprehension, Keitaro's kind words only served to incense Motoko. "How can you say that?! Look around you! _I _did this! _I _endangered the children. _I _hurt you. Why don't you hate me?!"

At this, Keitaro merely smiled. "Because you have a kind heart."

Motoko snapped. She opened her mouth and howled like a raving madwoman. "NO, I DON'T! I'M A MONSTER! I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS SMILE AT ME?! I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY! I WOULD RATHER DIE! I WANT YOU TO HATE ME!"

The very ground shook from the reverberations of her voice. When she realized she had lost control of herself yet again, she hastily apologized. "Forgive me, Urashima. I did not mean to—"

"Motoko-chan, look out! Above you!"

She instantly craned her neck upwards and saw her impending doom. The sound of her voice had dislodged a boulder that had been clinging to the pillar in the center of the stage by a bare thread. It was now hurtling down towards her, gaining in speed with every passing second.

Somehow, it never occurred to her to step out of the way. She could only stare at it, entranced by the way such a large, awkward monstrosity could tumble so gracefully in the air.

"Motoko-chan!!!"

_CRASH!_

She felt something collide with her, knocking her to the ground. At first, she thought it was the boulder, but soon dismissed it as a possibility. After all, she was still alive.

And then she noticed the body lying on top of her.

"Ha… ha… ha…" Keitaro was breathing heavily, apparently short of breath for reasons unknown to Motoko. "That… ha… was a close one. Are you… ha… are you okay, Motoko-chan?"

She blinked. "I… I believe so…"

"I'm… ha… glad," Keitaro panted. "Me too. Guess we both… ha… got lucky, that time."

"You… saved me…" Motoko gasped.

"Yeah," he agreed, his pulse rate slowly returning to normal. "Sorry, I know you wanted me to hate you."

"You fool…" Motoko whimpered. "You reckless, idiotic, chauvinistic, male fool."

"Hey, I'm not chauvinistic!" Keitaro denied. "The rest of that sounds about right, though." He grinned.

Despite herself, Motoko felt her own lips form a smile, as well.

"Well, I think I've had enough excitement for one day," Keitaro said, his speech slurring slightly as drowsiness overtook him. Without a clear and present danger, the adrenaline fueling him was fading. "I feel like a nap now…"

And then he collapsed on top of her, his head settling to rest on Mokoto's bosom. Ordinarily, this would have caused her to fly into a rage and attack him but considering the circumstances, she decided to let it slide.

This time.

And then the dust around them that had been knocked up by the impact of the boulder began to clear…

"Keitaro! Motoko! Are you two okay?!"

Naru froze as soon as she saw them.

"W-What are you doing to her, you pervert?!"

"N-Naru-san!" Motoko stuttered. "T-This isn't what it looks like." In an ironic twist of events, she'd somehow found herself in a familiarly awkward situation that was all too easy to misunderstand.

Ah, so _this_ was how Urashima must have felt all those times.

"Urashima was just—"

But it was too late.

"Get off of her, NOW!"

Keitaro went flying into the air, still unconscious. His near vertical ascent sent him hurtling towards the moon, but of course even Naru couldn't punch _that_ hard.

"Naru-san, Urashima just saved my life!" Motoko protested.

"He… what?"

"He saved me from being crushed by that boulder before passing out in that… unfortunate position."

"Oh…"

Keitaro's body slowed to a stop before reversing direction and finally hitting the ground with a sickening _crack!_

"Keitaro!"

"Urashima!"

Both girls ran towards their apartment manager as quickly as their legs could carry them. They kneeled, reaching out tentatively towards his prone form.

"Clear out, you two!" Haruka arrived on the scene and pushed both of them aside. "I think you've _both_ done enough damage already."

She propped her 'nephew' up and laid his head on her shoulder, slapping his cheeks lightly as she did before. "Hey, don't you think scaring me half to death once in a day is enough?"

This time he didn't open his eyes.

"C'mon, kiddo, I'm not joking. Cut it out before you make me angry."

Still, he did not stir.

Cursing, she laid him flat on his back again and took his pulse by pressing two forefingers into his neck, near the aorta.

"Good," Haruka sighed in relief. "His heart's still beating."

The sound of footstep interrupted her before she could diagnose his condition any further.

It was Kitsune with Shinobu and Su both in tow. "Hey, Haruka, we finished leading all the kids to the parking lot. They're not as rowdy as before, but I think they'll be okay. None of them were hurt from what I saw."

After finishing the short debrief, she finally noticed something odd about the scene she'd walked in on.

"Is that Keitaro over there? He doesn't look so hot."

"What happened to Senpai?!" Shinobu squealed. "He's not breathing!"

Haruka's head snapped back to Keitaro. She put an ear to his chest.

"Shit, Shinobu's right. Naru, call the paramedics! And all of you, clear out. Give me some room."

Haruka positioned her hands on Keitaro's chest and began pumping as she kept count aloud.

"1... 2... 3..."

She plugged his nose and transferred her breath through his mouth. Sparing a glance back at the others, she scowled. "Naru, what are you doing?! Get on your cell phone! Now!"

"B-But I… I…" The brunette mumbled incoherently as she fumbled through her pockets. When she finally retrieved the phone, she just stared at it as if it were a foreign object she'd never seen before.

"Damn it! Shinobu, use Naru's phone. Tell them your name, our location, and that we have a medical emergency. Can you handle that?"

Shinobu appeared surprised to be singled out at first but recovered quickly. She nodded firmly and grabbed the phone from Naru's hand. Hoping help would arrive in time, she made sure to dial the appropriate numbers quickly but accurately.

"Yes, hello? My name is Shinobu Maehara…"

…

…

…

**Chapter 1 – In Memory**

Inhaling deeply, Haruka felt a rush a warmth enter her lungs before triggering an involuntary gag reflex and she broke out into a fit of coughing. The cigarette slipped out of her fingers and fell to the pavement. Cursing her carelessness, she waited until the dizziness subsided and then used her teeth to draw another from its pack, cupping one hand around it while flicking her lighter with the other. A heartbeat later it was gone, so she lit another. And another after that. And then another.

She ignored the stares she was getting.

When her pack had been emptied, she swore out loud, belatedly wishing she had paced herself better.

"I hope you don't kiss your mother with that mouth," a rich, dulcet voice reprimanded her. It belonged to a man with windswept sandy brown hair, his bespectacled face partially obscured by a perpetual five o'clock shadow. He was wearing a white lab coat and she mistook him for the doctor she'd been waiting for a first, but then she realized she knew the man.

"Seta?" Haruka nearly gagged at the sudden appearance of her old flame. She suspected she would have reacted the same way, even if she hadn't felt nauseous from her recent bout of chain smoking.

Without waiting for an invitation, he seated himself beside her and reached into his pocket.

"I'd offer you a smoke," he told her casually, "but I think maybe you've had enough."

Haruka bristled. "And how would you know that? Were you spying on me?"

"Nope, just got here," came the matter-of-fact reply. He eyeballed the ground at Haruka's feet and she realized it was littered with cigarette filters. "I bet there are proctologists over in that hospital who haven't seen as many butts today."

The pun didn't faze her. "That flippant attitude of yours may charm those empty-headed little co-eds, but it won't fly with me, Seta."

"My apologies, madam," said Seta with a polite incline of his head. "No offense was intended."

"Fine," she waved a hand as a sign of dismissal. "Just give me a damn cigarette."

Contrary to what she expected, Seta did not immediately acquiesce. Light reflecting from his glasses obscured his eyes from view and his expression revealed no other hints to his state of mind. When he finally relented, Haruka thought she may have heard the man give an audible sigh, but it could have as easily been her ears playing tricks on her. He'd always been a difficult man to read, so she paid it no heed.

"Thanks,"she offered her gratitude blandly.

Neither of them said anything more for a while after that. Haruka stared distractedly through the glass walls of the hospital, keeping an eye on any staff that approached the exit.

"Are you expecting someone?" Seta asked after noticing the behavior.

"Damn right," Haruka said in a low growl. "They're supposed to send someone out here to get me when I can see my nephew."

"Part-timer?" Seta spoke in his usual affable tone, but his shoulders shifted slightly at the mention of his assistant and his posture straightened. "It's nothing serious, I hope."

"That's just it: I really don't know," Haruka fumed. "The paramedics in the ambulance with us said he slipped into a coma just before we got here and then the staff shooed me off while carting him away. It's been over an hour since then and they still won't inform me of his condition."

"They probably need time to make an accurate diagnosis," Seta offered. "I'm sure he's fine. They would have told you about any complications."

"I don't share your faith in these incompetents," Haruka said sharply. "This is the same hospital where…" Her voice dropped to just barely above a whisper. "...where Mom died."

She'd been very young then, but the memory of that day had forever been branded in her mind. She felt just as powerless now as she did then. And this time, Granny Hina wasn't there to console her.

"You mother?" Seta sounded confused. "You can't mean Granny Hina."

"No,"Haruka loosed a deep sigh. "She adopted me after it happened. Granny actually _is_ my granny, biologically. I'm just her daughter on paper."

"I see," said an unusually somber Seta. "You never told me that."

"No," Haruka agreed. "I didn't."

The conversation collapsed into silence again but neither made any attempt to revive it. Seta finished his cigarette first and rose from his seat.

"I should go. Sarah ought to be out of surgery from her tonsillectomy by now and I ought to be there when she wakes up."

Haruka raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. You sound like a real father." Seta merely smiled at her before walking away.

It wasn't long before one more filter fell to the ground to join the others. Left empty-handed and bereft of company, Haruka's thoughts turned to the girls waiting at home. No doubt they were eager for word of the fate of the apartment manager. She wouldn't be able to oblige, but she supposed that she could at least let them know he'd arrived at the hospital in one piece. Fumbling for loose change in her pockets, she made her way to a pay phone just beside the hospital entrance.

Someone picked up before the first ring even finished. "H-Hello? Keitaro, is that you?" The voice was oddly strangled.

"Sorry, Naru, it's just me."

"Oh, Haruka," Naru was clearly disappointed. "Is Keitaro alright?"

"I wish I could tell you," Haruka replied, doing her best to suppress her anger and frustration over the situation, "but I'm afraid the doctors are still checking him out. I should be hearing from them soon, though." _At least, I'd better._ "I doubt we'll be home tonight either way, so don't wait up."

From the animated noises in the background, Haruka surmised the other girls were listening in on the conversation.

"Isn't there anything at all you can tell us?" Naru pleaded. She sounded desperate.

"Well…" Haruka sighed. "I don't want to worry you girls, but the last thing I've heard is that he slipped into a coma around the time we got here."

There was a collective gasp from the receiver followed by the incoherent babble of several different voices speaking simultaneously.

"Quiet, everyone!" Naru admonished before addressing Haruka again. "Sorry. The others are pretty worried. And… I guess… I am, too."

_As well you should be, considering this is all _your _fault, _Haruka thought darkly, but she pushed it aside. Now wasn't the time, despite how much she wanted to vent her pent-up frustration on _someone._

"I'll contact you as soon as I hear anything," she promised. "You know Keitaro; he'll bounce back from just about anything," she assured with a confidence she did not at all feel. "We could be home as soon as tomorrow."

"If— When he wakes up, can you tell him…" Naru hesitated a moment. "Can you tell him that I'm sorry? And tell him that I'll do anything to make it up to him. And… tell him that I… I mean, tell him I… that I… hope he gets well soon."

Haruka tried to sigh, but it came out as a low growl. That was the last straw. "When are you going to grow up, Naru? Your jealous little tiffs have been troublesome in the past, but this time it may have cost Keitaro his life. Do you even understand that?"

"I… But I…"

"You what? Didn't mean it?" Haruka said scathingly. "I'll have to tell Keitaro that, _if_ he wakes up. I'm sure it'll be a big comfort to him."

"Haruka, please," Naru wailed. The sobs she'd been holding back broke out into full force. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

"Sorry isn't enough, Naru," Haruka spat. "Not this time, it isn't. You'd better think long and hard about what you're going to do to make sure that this doesn't happen again. Because it _won't_ happen again, one way or another."

She let the veiled threat linger for a few seconds.

"Damn it, I can't talk to you anymore right now. If I get any news, I'll let you girls know."

She hung up the receiver and returned to the spot where she'd been sitting. After a few minutes she realized that she didn't feel any better for having vented her anger at all.

_It's not like I didn't mean what I said, but maybe I could have been gentler…_

What the hell was she supposed to do? Her decision to open the Hinata Seaside Tea House this year had not turned out as she'd planned at all. It was supposed to be a relaxing retreat, a chance for Keitaro to kick back and have a little fun instead of moping around the dormitory pining for Naru. And, not that she was playing cupid, but Haruka thought that maybe the fresh air and change of scenery might improve their relationship so she wouldn't have to keep putting up with their gloomy faces.

How wonderfully that had turned out.

Time passed without any word of Keitaro. The sun had gone down and the wind was growing chilly. The hospital was almost certainly heated, but she refused to wait inside. The sterile smell of antiseptics and medical equipment stirred memories best left forgotten. Sensibility grappled with stubbornness, but before a winner could be declared, at long last a figure with a white lab coat came out and approached her.

"Still out here, I see. Aren't you cold?"

A few choice, and rather unladylike, words escaped Haruka's lips. "What are you doing back here, Seta? Shouldn't you be looking after your kid?"

"Sarah's resting peacefully," he told her while removing his coat and placing it on Haruka's shivering back. She accepted it without comment. "The doctor promised her ice cream and wasn't able to deliver. I thought I'd pop over to the convenience store across the street and surprise her when she wakes up."

"Funny," Haruka muttered dryly. "You never struck me as the doting father type."

"Is that right?" It was a meaningless reply, perhaps a cue that her comment was unwelcome. Or perhaps Seta was just being Seta. "Nevermind me. Isn't there something you ought to be doing right now?"

Haruka frowned. "Such as?"

"Don't you think you should be with your nephew?"

A flash of red crept up her neck. "You don't think I would be if I could?"

Seta shrugged. "I think you would be if you weren't here, outside, feeling sorry for yourself."

Haruka didn't know if she was more surprised at the provocative words or that Seta had been the one to say them. Before she knew it, she was on her feet and seething."What is that supposed to mean? Who the hell do you think you are, Seta Noriyasu?"

Seta ignored the outburst and looked away, scratching his chin. "You know, the nurses here are very friendly. I struck up a conversation with one and we really hit it off. She was so sympathetic of a young, single bachelor such as myself trying to raise a sweet girl like Sarah without a female role model to emulate. We also discussed my distress over how to spend the generous grant I recently received from the university to fund my research. I believe I failed to mention I wasn't at liberty to spend that money as I pleased, but she was quite delighted for me, nonetheless. It was at this point I mentioned my young assistant, one Keitaro Urashima, had taken ill and that the good doctors were taking quite some time to diagnose his condition. Taking pity on me, she discreetly looked up the room he was staying in so that I might visit him. It's written down on a slip of paper in the pocket of my coat, which I seem to have misplaced."

He threw his hands up and heaved an exaggerated sigh. "And now I need to hurry back to Sarah with that ice cream before she notices I'm missing. There's just no rest for the w— oomph!"Before he could finish, he was nearly bowled over when Haruka wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug.

"Seta, I don't know how to thank you enough for this," she whispered. She felt him stiffen for a moment, and relax again, and then a gentle stroking of her hair before he softly pushed her away.

"There's someone else you need to see right now," he said to her. "Don't make him wait on my account."

They stood facing each other for a long, awkward moment. And then, almost simultaneously, they strode past each other without another word. Haruka didn't look back, knowing he wouldn't, either. She reached into the pocket of the coat Seta had placed on her and pulled out a strip of paper. On it were two numbers. 315 and—

"555-4382"

She smiled wryly to herself before tearing it neatly into pieces and tossing the fragments into a trash bin. So Keitaro was in room 315, and she was on the first floor. It seemed she needed to go up. Quickening her pace, she followed signs directing her to the elevators. As she turned the corner, she saw a pair of stainless steel doors just beginning to close.

"Hold that, please!"

She rushed forward as a hand holding a clipboard reached out to prevent the doors from closing. Haruka wheezed out her thanks and the woman to whom the hand belonged beamed at her.

"Say, aren't you that new intern?" she asked animatedly, apparently given the wrong impression by Seta's lab coat that Haruka was still wearing. "I think Dr. Nakamura was looking for you earlier. Best not keep him waiting, you know how that old fuddy duddy gets. Or maybe you don't yet? You've been here for what, a week? I only transferred here a month ago myself. Don't you think the staff here is a bit… shall we say, one step from the grave? It's so nice to finally have someone my own age to talk to! Oh, look at me prattle on like this when I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Ai. And you were… Sayoko, wasn't it? I've seen you around."

Haruka marveled at the fact that it was humanly possible to speak the woman's introduction with only one breath. Not wanting to be scrutinized too closely, she nodded dully in response and motioned to the front-right corner of the elevator. "Third floor, please."

"Oh, right!" Ai exclaimed. "I nearly forgot where we were." She pressed the appropriate button. "So Sayoko, you'll never guess what just happened to me! I met the most wonderful man, earlier. He was a bit disheveled, but very handsome in a rugged sort of way. And loaded too, which between us girls, is the most important thing, right? Ha! And here I was, cursing the gods for sending me to this nightmarish place, slaving away for a bunch of dusty old men who ought to be _in _the morgue instead of running it! I suppose every cloud has a silver lining, after all. "

Haruka, without even needing to play along, simply scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, he just sounds too good to be true. How do you know he doesn't have some glaring personality defect like an unhealthy obsession with his work? Or a total lack of awareness of the feelings of the people around him? Or the irritating habit of smiling like a brain-dead monkey when you're trying to have a serious conversation?"

"Goodness me," Ai said, grinning from ear to ear. "_Someone_ is quite the jilted lover, now isn't she? You simply _must_ tell me every wicked detail!" The woman had a predatory look in her eye, like a wolf that had stumbled upon a tasty morsel. "How did he look? How much did he spend on you? How was he _in bed?_"

Remaining unrattled by Ai's slew of increasingly embarrassing personal questions, Haruka took them in stride and replied flatly, "It was a she." She took no small amount of satisfaction in seeing the smile wiped from Ai's face. The remaining seconds of her ride on the elevator were blissfully silent. _You owe me one, Sayoko._

Haruka quickly found her bearings after stepping off the elevator and before long, she found herself standing outside room 315. Beyond the tinted glass, she could make out a prone form on the bed. Steeling herself she opened the door and stepped inside. The figure stirred at the sound of her entry.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Keitaro's voice sent waves of relief through her chest, but she dared not relax completely. Not until she saw him.

"Keitaro, it's me, Haruka. Are you alright?"

"Aunt Haruka?" He sounded confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I snuck in," she confessed. "The clowns running this place wouldn't give any information on how you were doing so I took matters into my own hands… with some help. And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'Aunt'? You're off the hook this time, but I'll consider you fair game again once you're back on your feet."

"S-Sorry," Keitaro apologized automatically. "Um… so, Aunt Haruka."

"Haruka," she corrected with a sigh. "Didn't we just go over this?"

"R-Right," said Keitaro. "Haruka, then. I… my head is a little fuzzy. What did… How did I get here?"

Haruka frowned. "You don't remember?"

"Not really… I remember… a play? And then nothing. And then waking up here. The doctor, he ran so many tests. I laid down in this weird machine. I think he said it was an MRI. He asked me a lot of questions. What my name was. Where I was born. About my childhood. He said he was worried I might have brain damage but… I remember everything. Just… just not what happened to me. He said it was probably the shock. Apparently he can't find anything wrong with me."

Haruka let out a long, shuddering sigh. This was better than she dared hope. Still, she had to be sure. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness but she still couldn't make out more than a vague silhouette of her nephew.

"Do you mind if I turn on the lights? I'd like to get a better look at you."

"No, go ahead."

Light filled the room. Haruka approached the hospital bed slowly. Keitaro's eyes were alert, but frightened, and she didn't want to exacerbate his condition. The color had returned to his face, and but for the bandages wrapped around his head and the hospital gown he was wearing, and the fact she'd seen him when his wounds _were_ there, she would never have suspected he'd suffered any injuries at all.

"You don't look any worse for the wear," she admitted, breathing a sigh a relief. "How do you feel?"

"I… I'm fine," said Keitaro.

"Bullshit," Haruka replied. "You're shaking like a leaf." She took a seat at the edge of the bed, placed a hand on his shoulder, and looked her nephew directly in the eye. "You don't have to pretend in front of me. We're family, okay? No matter what, I'm always in your corner."

Some of the tension drained from Keitaro's shoulders. He gave her the barest of smiles and nodded gratefully.

"So… let's try this again. How do you feel?" Haruka asked.

Keitaro swallowed and licked his lips, then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I… could be better," he told her. "I woke up in a strange room with a bunch of people wearing surgical masks poking and prodding me, with no idea of how I wound up there. Nobody would tell me anything. They ignored me when I asked for my family. I… I don't want to be here anymore. I just want to go home."

Haruka squeezed his shoulder. "Soon, I promise. Did the doctor mention when you could leave?"

Keitaro nodded. "Tomorrow. He said there's nothing more they can do for me but he wants to keep me here overnight for observation, just in case."

As if by magic, all of the fear and uncertainty that had been plaguing Haruka the entire night was banished in an instant. She smiled for what felt like the first time in ages. "Great, then we'll both go back first thing in the morning. The girls will be relieved to see you in one piece."

Keitaro grinned back at her, but then a switch seemed to flip on in his head and his smile was turned on its head. "Girls? You mean Mom and Kanako?"

"No…" Haruka said slowly, her spirits dampening. "The girls? Naru? Motoko? Kitsune, Shinobu, Su? Ring any bells?"

Her nephew stared at her blankly. "Who?"

Of course. _Of course_ it wasn't going to be that simple. Why had she ever expected otherwise?

"Keitaro, you said you remembered a play…"

"Yeah. _The Journey West_," Keitaro confirmed. "One of the other senior classes was performing it for the culture festival. I was in the audience. It's the last thing I remember."

"Culture festival?" Haruka repeated. She had a feeling she knew where things were going. Cram schools did not hold culture festivals. That could only mean… "Keitaro, how old are you?"

"Fifteen," he answered without hesitation. "I'm eight years younger than you, remember?"

"Right, silly me," Haruka deadpanned. Oh, she was going to murder that moron of a doctor. "So that means you're in your last year of middle school?"

"Yeah," said Keitaro, making a face. "I can't wait until graduation. For the past three years, it's like I've been walking around with a giant 'L' branded to my forehead. My classmates don't even acknowledge my existence, and when they do it's only to make fun of me. Even the teachers think I'm hopeless. I try so hard but my grades are average at best. I'm hoping to make a fresh start in high school, but…" His face reddened. "Er, maybe I've said too much."

Her head erupted into a sudden, intense pounding. A smoke. She needed a smoke. Right now, more than ever in her life.

"You said the doc asked about when you were a kid," she grunted, straining to keep her composure. "How thorough was he? How far did he go, chronologically?"

Keitaro shrugged. "We went through pretty much my entire life."

"He didn't ask you about anything recent?"

"Sure, he did," replied Keitaro. "We went all the way up to middle school. How much more recent could he get?"

"He didn't ask about high school?"

Keitaro cocked an eyebrow quizzically. "Why would he? I'm not that old."

It seemed Haruka's skepticism of the medical staff's competence was well justified, though the thought brought her no pleasure. The idiot doctor had stopped short in his testing for signs of brain damage and now it was _her_ job to break the news to her amnesiac nephew.

Wonderful.

She considered how to broach the subject, but ultimately decided to go with naked honestly. Haruka was not one to beat around the bush, and the migraine she was nursing wasn't doing any favors for her ability to think of more creative solutions, or her mood.

"Keitaro, the year is 1999. You're twenty years old."

If she had any expectations of her nephew's reaction, it was not dead silence followed shortly by hysterical laughter.

"You almost had me there, Aunt Haruka," Keitaro guffawed. "Wow, I always thought you didn't have a sense of humor."

She raised a hand and began massaging her temples. "Starting now, for every time you call me 'Aunt', I am going to smack you upside the head with a harisen once you get out of here. And I wasn't joking. Look at the wall mirror and see for yourself."

The laughing stopped abruptly. Keitaro stared at his reflection with a completely empty expression. No hint betrayed his emotions. If he was surprised, confused, or angry, he didn't show it.

Finally, he said, "…how long was I asleep, again?"

* * *

Keitaro took the news of his amnesia surprisingly easily. The throbbing in Haruka's head hit a plateau and she was able to tolerate the discomfort while answering any questions her nephew proffered.

"So Granny Hina really turned the old inn into an all-girls dorm? And she put _me_ in charge?" he asked for what must have been the twelfth time.

"Yes," sighed Haruka. Now that she'd confirmed that Keitaro was safe and sound, albeit missing memories of the last five years of his life, her anxiety from earlier in the evening was quickly being replaced by irritation. Of course, none of it was directed towards her nephew. He wasn't at fault.

That son of a bitch doctor was. Her fingers twitched as she imagined snapping his scrawny little neck.

"And the girls who lived there were okay with that?"

"Eventually," said Haruka. She didn't care to elaborate. Luckily, Keitaro didn't ask her to.

"Wow… it sounds like my luck with girls really changed!"

"You could say that," responded Haruka. It would be a lie but, yes, one could say that, certainly.

"What about Toudai?" Keitaro asked with stars in his eyes. "You said I'm twenty, right? That must mean I'm in my… second or third year? Did I ever find my promised girl?"

Haruka sighed. She knew he would eventually bring up this particular topic. And now she had to burst his bubble.

"Actually, no."

"Oh," Keitaro mumbled, a bit put off. Haruka found his behavior curious. She had been expecting a stronger reaction. "Well, it's a big campus. I'll just have to look harder."

"You don't understand," Haruka shook her head. No wonder his disappointment was so underwhelming. "I meant no, you aren't attending Toudai, yet. You've failed the entrance exam three times in a row." She'd thought about trying to cushion the blow, but it just wasn't in her nature. Besides, Keitaro could be a bit thick at times and she didn't want him to mistake her meaning again and cling to false hope.

"Oh," Keitaro repeated, in the same clinical tone, much to Haruka's befuddlement. "Guess I should've figured I'd be too dumb to pull it off the first time around. But three times? Really? Ouch." He frowned for a few seconds before his ears perked back up. "Do I at least have a girlfriend?"

Teenage boys and their one track minds…

"No," said Haruka. Again, she didn't feel like elaborating. She wasn't cupid and even if Naru hadn't pissed her off, the temperamental object of Keitaro's affections had done nothing but sit on her hands. If she couldn't make up her own damn mind, Haruka wasn't going to do her any favors by playing matchmaker.

"Oh," Keitaro said for the third time. Haruka couldn't contain herself any longer.

"You don't seem particularly upset about any of this," she pointed out.

"I guess that's because… I'm not," Keitaro shrugged. "Whoever this guy is you're talking about, he's not me… Well, he's _me_, obviously, but he's… different. He's had five extra years of what sounds like failures and disappointments… But, me?" His mouth split into a grin. "I thought my life couldn't get any worse but all of a sudden I find out that I don't have to put up with being an outcast in middle school anymore, or risk repeating it all over in high school. And then you tell me I'm the manager of an all-girls dorm! I'd say things are looking pretty rosy for me!"

Haruka blinked. She hadn't thought about it like that. Could losing his memories actually have been a _good_ thing for Keitaro?

"What about Toudai?" she asked.

"What about it?" Keitaro fired back. "I bet the next time I take the exam, I'll ace it! I've only been preparing for it for three years and _some_ of it had to stick." He pointed to his head. "It's not like I've forgotten how to talk or read or write or anything. I bet the other stuff I've learned is still up here, too. This is like the fresh start I was hoping for in high school, but better!"

Haruka frowned. "You seem awfully sure of yourself." Which was strange, to say the least. Keitaro had always been lacking in confidence, even in his youth.

"What do I have to lose?" said Keitaro. "The worst thing that can happen is my memories all come back tomorrow, I realize what a loser I am again, and I pick up right where I left off. Or I don't get my memories back and I get to be fifteen again without all of the crappy parts I'd rather not remember, anyway."

"Except you're not actually fifteen," Haruka corrected. "You only think you are."

"I'm not too concerned about that," Keitaro shrugged. "What's five years, give or take?"

"A quarter of your life so far?" Haruka offered.

"…but less than one fifteenth of my total lifespan, most likely," added Keitaro. "Whoa! I just did fractions in my head! I could never do that before! See? I'm already proving my point!"

"You've lost it," muttered Haruka. He really _was_ acting like a fifteen year old. How were the girls going to react to a mentally pubescent Keitaro?

Though, given their generally low opinion of him, maybe they wouldn't notice.

"Lost what? Only my memories," said her nephew. "And all the emotional baggage they carried with them. Good riddance, I say."

"You're a real smart mouthed brat, you know that?"

"And that surprises you, why?" Keitaro deadpanned. "I'm fifteen. What did you expect?"


	2. It's A Secret

**Forget and Forgive**

Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu.

A/N: The original POV character for Chapter 2 was Kitsune. Now it's Shinobu. Lots more angst and melodrama but somehow it seems to fit like a glove… Incidentally, considering how hairy this brain child of mine has gotten, I'm in the market for a babysitter (i.e. a Beta). Let me know if you want to volunteer.

**Chapter 2 – It's A Secret**

Shinobu didn't particularly feel like preparing breakfast that morning. She wasn't hungry. She didn't see how anyone could possibly have an appetite after witnessing the events of the previous night. It seemed pointless, a futile effort to maintain a semblance of normalcy when everything was clearly _not_ normal.

Her eyelids felt heavy and she longed for the soft touch of her pillow against her cheek. She dismissed the urge to crawl back under her warm blanket. Moping in bed would serve no purpose. It was something the _old_ Shinobu would have done. The cowardly crybaby who was always too busy feeling sorry for herself to step forward into the future. She was done being that person. She would not disappoint Urashima-senpai after everything he'd done for her.

So she made her way to the kitchen. As she rummaged around the cupboards for ingredients, her eyes lingered on a single canister of instant coffee. Kitsune was the only one who ever drank the caffeinated beverage, claiming medicinal effects that eased her frequent hangovers. Shinobu had expressed curiosity about the taste once in the past, but Kitsune had simply laughed and ruffled the little tenants' hair in an entirely condescending manner.

"It's an acquired taste, hon," she would say. "Kids should just stick with warm milk and hot chocolate."

Never mind the fact that a 'kid' prepared her breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. The same 'kid' who did the laundry and dishes, took out the garbage, cleaned up after her messes, and cut her off when she was drinking too much.

Hmph. Which one of them was the real child?

Shinobu put on a kettle of hot water and grabbed a clean mug. Before long she found herself staring at a black, murky, and entirely unappetizing looking liquid.

She gathered her courage and took a sip. The taste made her wrinkle her nose and stick out her tongue. It was bitter, _unbearably_ bitter. People actually voluntarily drank that revolting stuff? Did they have no taste buds?

She pushed the mug away, ashamed of herself. It made her queasy just thinking about quaffing any more of the vile concoction. She sighed and poured the rest of it down the sink.

The unpleasant flavor lingered in her mouth. She wouldn't soon forget it.

Sighing once more, she reached into the refrigerator to pour herself a glass of milk…

Twenty seconds later the microwave _dinged_ and she took a seat at the table. She raised the glass to her mouth, but then paused. The sight of it induced an irrational anger within her. She squeezed it, willing the glass to break, to shatter into a thousand pieces.

All she received for her efforts was a sore hand. The anger ebbed from her and was replaced by humiliation. There was no point in resisting any further. She drank the milk.

It tasted salty.

In the next room, Shinobu heard the stairs creaking and quickly wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Her stomach lurched as the footsteps grew louder. Most likely it was either Naru or Motoko-senpai. Su only woke up when she smelled food and Kitsune could sleep all day if allowed to. The tenants had all retired to their respective rooms after returning home the night before, each no doubt taking time to digest their own thoughts about what had happened.

To her considerable surprise, the newcomer was neither Naru nor Motoko, but the one tenant she'd have least suspected.

Kitsune shambled into the room with a lurching gait. Oblivious to Shinobu's presence, she clumsily rummaged through the kitchen cupboards, pausing for the occasional yawn.

"Ahem," Shinobu gently cleared her throat. She watched as Kitsune snapped her head around and then winced in pain from the sudden movement. Half-lidded eyes stared back at her, more red than white.

"Oh, Shinobu," Kitsune muttered drowsily. "Didn't see you there. Mornin'."

"Good morning, Kitsune-san," Shinobu greeted. "Can I help you find something?"

"Coffee," Kitsune grunted. "Something to take the edge off."

Shinobu pursed her lips in disapproval but gestured for her companion to sit while she put on another kettle of hot water. "You promised to cut back."

"I know," Kitsune mumbled as she slid a palm vertically across her face. "You'd think I'd learn to stop making promises I can't keep."

Shinobu sighed as she spooned some instant coffee into an empty mug but made no further comment on the subject.

"I don't know how you stomach this stuff," she said, curling a lip as she handed the cup of murky black liquid to her hungover friend.

"Acquired taste," Kitsune replied predictably, taking a sip. She nearly sprayed it back out all over the kitchen. "Blech! What is this?" She opened a single eye and studied her mug. "It's black. Didn't you add any cream or sugar?"

Shinobu frowned. "No?"

"I can't drink coffee black," complained Kitsune. "It's putrid. Here, hand me the milk."

Shinobu obliged and watched as the diluted coffee turned a smooth, rich brown and by virtue of a simple color change looked much more appetizing than before.

Kitsune took another sip. She made a face and stuck out her tongue but continued to drink it. "Still a bit stronger than I like, but I guess I could use a little extra jolt after last night."

Shinobu blinked. "You mean you always add cream and sugar to it?" she asked.

"You have to if you want it to be remotely palpable," Kitsune shrugged. "Well, some masochists out there like it black but I'm not one of em."

Shinobu could scarcely believe her ears. "You add _cream _and _sugar_ to it? I thought you said coffee was for adults!" Her protest came out a deal louder than she'd intended and her voice reverberated through the building.

Kitsune winced reflexively. "Ow, ow, ow. Mind keeping it down?"

Shinobu's ire receded somewhat, a tinge of pink coloring her cheeks when she realized she'd lost control over the volume of her speech temporarily.

"I'm sorry," she hastily apologized. Embers of indignation still smoldered in her, but when she spoke again her tone was tempered by restraint. "Why did you always give me such a hard time about coffee being for grown ups when you sweeten it so much? You told me 'kids should just stick to warm milk' and rubbed my head when I asked you about it."

Kitsune shrugged, evidently puzzled over why her companion was making mountains of molehills. "I was just teasing you, hon. You know I like to wind people up. It wouldn't be fair if I left you alone. I aim to be egalitarian with my mischief and that means everyone's fair game!" She flashed her trademark foxy grin.

Shinobu's lips didn't so much as quiver. "It's not nice to have fun at other people's expense."

"I'll make sure my conscience gets the memo," Kitsune replied cheekily. "Oh, don't give me that look. You know I don't mean nothing by it. It's just a little harmless fun."

"Harmless for _you_, maybe," countered Shinobu, surprising both Kitsune and herself as the words left her mouth. The littlest tenant was not combative by nature, but her thoughts were muddled this morning and she desperately needed an outlet for last night's frustrations.

Kitsune raised an eyebrow.

Of course, she did. Kitsune was many things, but never dense.

"Are you trying to tell me somethin', hon?"

Only every once in a while did Shinobu…

No.

It wasn't terribly often that Shinobu…

No.

Shinobu only very rarely…

No.

Shinobu _never_ criticized anyone. Goodness knew she had enough of her own faults to consider before she could begin to judge anyone else, but Kitsune's bald-faced audacity and lack of remorse was too much to bear.

"DON'T YOU CARE AT ALL ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?!" she exploded, the shockwaves powerful enough to have registered on the Richter scale. An ugly part of her she always kept locked up squirmed in pleasure as Kitsune fell to the floor in shock.

"S-Shinobu?" the fox woman whispered in a quavering voice. "W-What's gotten into you?"

The look of sheer terror on Kitsune's face brought Shinobu back to her senses. She clapped a hand over her own mouth, mortified that such a horrible sound could ever have come from it.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she stammered with tears streaming from her eyes. She fell to her knees and bawled like a newborn babe.

Kitsune was completely bewildered by the scene. "I-It's okay, hon. Hush now. It's okay."

"I'm sorry!" Shinobu repeated over and over. "I'm so sorry!"

Kitsune merely sat on the kitchen floor and patted the back of the sobbing middle school student awkwardly, clearly uncertain of what to do or how to console her friend.

"Shinobu-chan, what's wrong?!"

Naru entered the room in a panic not long after, Motoko at her flank.

"Kitsune, what did you do to her?!"

"Nothing!" the fox woman protested. "I swear I didn't touch her! She… she just blew up at me and then broke down into… well, just look at her!"

Both Naru and Motoko narrowed their eyes. They turned to each other and nodded. Then Naru bent down to embrace the sobbing bluenette while Motoko pulled Kitsune up by the collar.

"Shinobu-chan, please, tell me what's wrong."

"I hope you have a better explanation than _that_, Kitsune!"

"S-Stop!" Shinobu cried out. "It's not Kitsune-san's fault! Not this! It's m-mine!"

Motoko gaped at the little tenant as her hand went slack. Kitsune fell to the ground again with a dull _thud_.

"Ouch!"

"I'm sorry! It's my fault. Don't blame her. Not for this."

"Shhhh… it's okay, Shinobu-chan," Naru whispered soothingly with her arms still draped around her tiny companion. "It's okay. We believe you. Just let it all out and then when you're ready, we'll listen to what you each have to say, okay?"

Shinobu nodded meekly, but otherwise showed no sign that she would calm down any time soon. Kitsune breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

"I'm sorry…"

Twenty minutes later Shinobu had calmed down considerably, but felt more miserable than ever. Everyone in a ten mile radius must have heard her scream. To lose her temper is such an unsightly manner brought her no end of shame. It didn't matter than she'd been under a great deal of stress. Such a breach of conscience… such an overreaction over slightest provocation…

It didn't make her any better than…

"Naru-senpai. Motoko-senpai. Kitsune-san. Please, forgive me."

She bowed so deeply that she felt she might tip over.

Naru and Motoko looked confused, but Kitsune shifted uncomfortably and rubbed the back of her head. "Uh, don't sweat it, Shinobu. No harm done."

"Are you certain we shouldn't be stringing her up, Shinobu-chan?" asked Motoko, still glaring daggers at Kitsune.

_Not unless you hang nooses for the rest of us, too,_ the ugly thought came unbidden from the vitriolic depths of her mind.

"No," she said aloud. "It was me who was wrong. I… I shouldn't have reacted as badly as I did."

"What exactly happened?" asked Naru.

Shinobu steeled herself and dutifully answered without omission or embellishment. When she finished, Kitsune was staring at the floor while Naru and Motoko were both slack-jawed.

"Shinobu-chan, that's not like you at all!" exclaimed Naru.

"I… I know," said Shinobu, her head still hung in shame. "I'll do anything to make it up to you, Kitsune-san. If you want, I'll even pack my things and move out…"

"Wha?" Kitsune jerked her head up and frowned. "Er, Shinobu, it's not that big of a deal, really. Just forget about it. It's water under the bridge."

"Indeed," nodded Motoko. "The punishment must fit the crime and that would clearly be excessive for such a minor infraction."

Shinobu shook her head. No, she wouldn't let it drop that easily. It was important that she make them understand.

"Shinobu-chan, don't you think you're overreacting?" said Naru. "You shouldn't consider moving out over such a silly thing."

"It's not silly!" insisted Shinobu.

"You're still upset," said Naru. "Why don't you go take a dip in the hot springs and just relax? It'll help you put things in perspective."

"Stop treating me like a child!" Shinobu barked tersely. She realized how petulant she sounded the instant the words left her mouth. "No… I'm sorry. Please, just listen to what I have to say."

All three of her fellow tenants were giving her the oddest look. The sort of look that posited the question: has that girl lost her mind?

_At least I have their attention_, Shinobu thought grimly.

"Let me explain," she said, taking a deep breath. She needed to get her point across before they tried to have her committed. "Naru-senpai. Motoko-senpai. When you first came and saw me crying on the floor with Kitsune-san next to me, can you tell me what your initial reaction was?"

If anything, their expressions grew even more severe. It was a good thing that people tended to humor innocent requests from the potentially insane.

"I thought she did something to hurt you," admitted Naru, her eyes cast down in shame. "Maybe not physically, but… um… sorry, Kitsune."

"I, too, reached that conclusion," said Motoko, equally disgraced. "Forgive me, Kitsune-san."

"Yeah, well… uh, apologies accepted," murmured Kitsune, clearly uncomfortable.

_Good,_ thought Shinobu, satisfied with their reactions. _Maybe this will be easier than I thought._

"Okay," she said. She'd hooked them. Now she just had to reel them in. "Now, can you tell me, _honestly_, how you think you would have reacted if it had been Urashima-senpai rather than Kitsune-san on the floor next to me?"

Predictably, that particular inquiry was less well received.

"Shinobu, if this is about last night…"

"T-This and that are entirely different things!"

"Oh, so _that's_ where you were going with this."

Shinobu raised a hand and did not speak again until the ruckus had settled.

"Please, answer the question."

They all squirmed like wilting plants.

"You've made your point," Naru said meekly.

Shinobu shook her head. "No, I haven't. Now answer the question, please. I want this settled before Urashima-senpai comes back…"

…_if_ he comes back. She didn't actually say the words but they all heard them. It proved to be the final push she needed to loosen their tongues.

"If I thought that Keitaro hurt you I probably would have… hurt him back."

"I would not have shown Urashima any mercy…"

Shinobu nodded somberly. She expected that they would say something along those lines, but it still hurt her to hear it.

"Thank you for being honest. I just have one more question: Why were you willing to withhold judgment with Kitsune-san and give her the benefit of the doubt but not extend the same courtesy to Urashima-senpai?"

For that, neither girl whom the question was directed towards had an answer. Unfortunately for them, Shinobu wasn't willing to let them slide without at least making an attempt.

"I need you both to think hard about this and give me a serious answer."

The minutes ticked by and still neither Naru nor Motoko spoke up.

"I'll ask you again: Why were you so ready to punish Urashima-senpai without even getting his side of the story?"

"Well, he pulls stunts like that all the time…"

"The man is a lecher…"

Shinobu frowned, gravely disappointed with them both. "I know you don't mean that. Please, be honest with your feelings just this once. You owe him that much, at least."

The girls winced at the last statement. Shinobu felt guilty that she had to resort to such underhanded tactics, but her squeamishness in the past had injured Urashima-senpai as surely as last night's ill-fated Naru Punch. She'd had the opportunity to break the vicious cycle of violence any number of times, but instead chose to ignore it. To pretend she didn't see it. All because she was afraid of sticking her neck out, of getting her hands dirty.

She was done with such cowardice. If she had to ask the questions that no one wanted to hear, she would do it. If she had to sacrifice the pride of others to preserve the health of the person she admired most in the world, she would do it.

If she had to walk to hell and back, she would do it.

For him.

Because he was worth it. He was worth all of it, and so much more.

"You owe him that much," she repeated, "and a lot more."

And then she looked at their faces. She saw their anguish and genuine inability to articulate the feelings that they'd vehemently denied they had for so long. It was too much for them all at once. It was tearing them apart.

Her resolve started to falter. Was this really the right thing to do? If Urashima-senpai saw the two girls at that moment… what would he have done?

She didn't even need to ask. She knew he would do anything for those girls. If all it took was a few lumps for them to keep their fragile pride, he'd go back and ask for seconds.

And look where that had gotten him…

Shinobu made her decision.

"…you don't have to answer me… yet," she said at last. "I want you to think about what I've said. And I want an answer… but not today. We've all… had a lot of wounds opened after last night. There's been enough pain for one day."

She turned her back to the other girls. It hurt too much to look at them. And she didn't want them to see her cry.

"A month. I'll ask you again in one month, and I'll want an answer. If you don't have one by then…" She shook her head. "You'll have one by then. Promise me."

Silence.

"Promise me!"

The sound of heavy swallowing, and then…

"W-We promise!!"

Voices in unison.

"Then go," Shinobu said, willing herself to stay strong for just a little longer. "I don't want to look at you right now."

The pitter patter of footsteps.

"Not you, Kitsune-san. I want you to stay."

The sound of heavy swallowing, once more. The footsteps grew fainter until stopping altogether.

Shinobu waited until two soft _clacks_ of bedroom doors sliding closed signaled that they were alone."I know you've never touched Urashima-senpai directly, Kitsune-san. But that doesn't make you innocent, no more than Naru-senpai or Motoko-senpai."

A pregnant pause.

"…no more than me…"

"But Shin—"

"I know it was you," interrupted Shinobu. "I know you switched scripts with Motoko. She was supposed to be Gojyo and _you_ were supposed to be the Bull King. I _know_. You aren't as clever as you think."

A sharp intake of breath.

"No more pranks, Kitsune-san. No more schemes. Human beings are not your playthings."

She bit her lip and drew blood. "I've said what I wanted. Leave."

Silence. Then…

"Shinobu-chan, I'm—"

"LEAVE!"

She was able to stave off the tears just long enough for Kitsune to return upstairs. Then she flew as fast as she could out the front door, so they couldn't hear her cry.

She hadn't made it more than ten meters from the building when she bumped into something obstructing her path. When she looked up, she saw the crown princess of Molmol staring back at her. Unable to contain herself any longer, she threw her arms around her classmate cried on her shoulder, no longer caring if the other girls could hear her or not. If she didn't let it out now, she would burst at the seams.

Su returned the embrace and said nothing, offering neither sympathy nor sharing in Shinobu's grief. She was simply there.

It was enough.

Then, when finally she ran out of tears, Su released her and headed towards the stairs leading to the street, silently beckoning for her to follow.

Shinobu didn't know what the banana fanatic was up to, but decided to follow. She wanted to be anyplace besides Hinata Sou at the moment.

Unfortunately, "anyplace" only turned out to be Haruka's tea house. Still… it was a preferable alternative to the main house and she supposed a cup of tea might help perk up her spirits, though Shinobu doubted it. She wondered idly if Su had led her there, thinking of the same idea. It was a surprisingly… pre-meditated and thoughtful gesture, coming from a girl with the attention span of a gnat.

Nothing prepared her for what she found behind the door, however.

"SENPAI!!!"

She tackled him into a half death grip, half bear hug. "Senpai, you're okay!"

For a moment, she was the happiest girl on Earth, but then she realized that he wasn't hugging her back.,, In fact, he was staring at her as if she were a stranger…

"Um, Shinobu," said Su, in an oddly subdued tone completely void of her usual exuberance. "There's something you need to know about Keitaro…"

"Wasn't it your idea to keep it quiet in the first place?" a dry voice commented from behind Keitaro. Haruka came into view seconds later.

Su shook her head. "From the others, not Shinobu. She needs… No. She deserves to know."

"Well if Kaolla thinks so, I trust her judgment," said Keitaro, though he still looked uneasy with Shinobu latched onto him.

"Thanks, Keitaro!" Su beamed, before addressing Shinobu again. The little cook had never seen her friend look so deathly serious before. It unnerved her.

"Shinobu… can you keep a secret?"


	3. Be the Change

**Forget and Forgive**

Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu.

A/N: I made a very important update to the ending of Chapter 1. It's significantly different and I apologize for the inconvenience, but anybody who hasn't read the new version really needs to go back and do so. It will be the final major revision to the original story and I swear on pain of death that there won't be anymore retroactive tweaking from this point forward.

**Chapter 3 – Be the Change  
**

The question lingered in the air for several long moments. Kaolla maintained a steady gaze at her friend, waiting patiently for an answer. The furrow in Shinobu's brow only deepened and she released her grasp on Keitaro only to blink several times in rapid succession as though trying to banish a hallucination.

Kaolla broke her stoic demeanor and grinned, waving at her friend. "Nope, I'm for real. Do you want me to pinch you to prove it?"

The look of adorable befuddlement never left Shinobu's face, but she did relax somewhat. "Um, no, thank you."

Kaolla widened her grin. "Or maybe… you want Keitaro to pinch you?"

Right on cue, Shinobu blushed a deep crimson, looking as though she might even say 'yes'.

"Nya ha ha! Just kidding!" Kaolla crowed. Then she stuck out her tongue and winked. "Did you think I was serious, Shinobu?"

"Oh, you…!" Shinobu's lower lip inched forward and she shot a sullen glare at her schoolmate.

"So-rry!" Kaolla chimed in a singsong voice. Then she turned to her newly returned apartment manager. "Isn't she just the cutest thing, Keitaro?"

"WHAT?!" both Shinobu and Keitaro spluttered simultaneously, faces turning identical shades of red.

From behind the counter, even Haruka wore a half-smile on her lips.

"T-That's not funny, Su-chan!"

"Y-Yeah!" agreed Keitaro. "Quit fooling around, Kaolla-san."

Kaolla allowed herself to indulge in a few more giggles. It felt good just to be able to laugh, especially after everything that had happened within the past twenty-four hours. This was the way things were supposed to be. The way they should have been for a while now. If only she had realized it sooner…

Well, no matter. Things would change, starting this very moment.

"You're right," Kaolla sighed, spreading her hands in surrender. "I shouldn't be having fun at your expense. Sorry, guys."

The apology seemed to mollify Keitaro, but Shinobu looked at her as if she'd just grown two heads. The way her jaw hung ajar made Kaolla want to laugh. She didn't, of course. Partly out of conscience and partly because she didn't want to experience the sort of dressing down Shinobu had given to Kitsune earlier.

"So!" Kaolla exclaimed, rubbing her hands together. "How about we get down to business? First we need to induct the newest member of our little cabal. Any objections to sharing our dirty little secret with Shinobu?"

"Like I said before," Keitaro shrugged, "I'll follow your lead, Kaolla-san."

Kaolla nodded, shooting him a thumbs up. "Awesome! Leave it to me!" Then she caught Haruka's eye.

"Uh-uh," the tea house proprietor shook her head. "I'm not a part of this half-baked conspiracy. Leave me out of your harebrained schemes."

"But this is for you nephew's welfare!" protested Kaolla.

"More likely, the opposite," Haruka disagreed. "How long do you think you can keep this under wraps? An hour? A day? Maybe a week, if you're _really_ lucky. And then what happens? Once the cat's out of the bag and those girls find out they've been lied to, who do you think they'll blame? I think one visit to the ER is more than enough for Keitaro."

"It won't come to that," said Kaolla. "They wouldn't dare do anything that stupid."

"Yesterday, I would have agreed with you," Haruka said. "But then they _did_ do something that stupid. And if they don't see that their actions have consequences, chances are at some point they're going to do it again."

"They won't," Kaolla insisted. "I'd bet my life on it."

"That's your business, then, but it's Keitaro's life we're talking about. Not yours."

"Hold on, both of you," interjected Keitaro. "Aunt Haruka, I- OW!"

The next instant Haruka was standing over a cringing Keitaro wielding a paper fan and a disgruntled scowl. "I already warned you about that and I make good on my threats, brat."

"Why are you so self-conscious about that?" asked Keitaro as he nursed his injury. "Just because you're a little older than me- OW!"

"E-Excuse me, Haruka-san," Shinobu piped in hesitantly. "Are you sure you should be hitting Urashima-senpai in the head like that? He just got out of the hospital…"

"I'm going easy on him," Haruka scoffed. "These are just baby taps."

"You must have been one freakishly strong baby," Keitaro muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing, ma'am!"

"That's what I thought."

"So what were you going to say, Keitaro?" Kaolla asked, steering the conversation back on course. The irony that she usually did exactly the opposite did not escape her.

"Huh? Oh, right," Keitaro nodded firmly. "Seeing as I'm the one who will be most affected, I feel like I should have some say, here."

Haruka sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fair enough. Let's hear it, then."

"First of all, I think we're being really rude, here," said Keitaro, gesturing to Shinobu. "Miss…" He paused, looking to Kaolla.

"Shinobu-chan," she supplied.

"Shinobu-ch… san," said Keitaro, stumbling a bit before opting for the more formal honorific, "must be really confused right now and before anything else, we need to explain things to her. She's been very patient so far and if Kaolla-san trusts her, that's good enough for me."

Haruka shrugged. "Be my guest."

"Right," Keitaro nodded again, though hesitantly and looking much less confident than before. He turned to face Shinobu but then averted his eyes the instant they made contact with hers. "This is a bit awkward since you seem to know me so well…" His words sounded wooded and stilted. "But… ah… this is my first time meeting you… from my perspective."

Shinobu frowned. "I don't think I understand what you're trying to say, Senpai."

Keitaro flushed, a goofy grin creeping on his face. "Senpai…" he muttered airily. "I've always wanted to be called that by a cute girl…"

"C-Cute?!" Shinobu yelped several octaves above her normal voice pitch, looking dazed as though she might faint.

Keitaro mistook her reaction for offense. "N-No, wait! That's not what I meant. You're not cute!" He didn't seem to realized what a boneheaded thing that was to say until Shinobu started to tear up. "No, I mean you _are_ cute! Just not cute to me! …wait, no! What I really mean is…"

"What he means is he has amnesia," finished Kaolla, before Keitaro started to choke on his own foot. "That's what you wanted to say, right, Keitaro?"

"Yes, exactly!" agreed Keitaro, nodding like a bobble head doll. "Please forgive my rudeness, Shinobu-san! I'm just a bit nervous, you see. But I'm very pleased to meet you!"

Shinobu froze on the spot, standing still as a statue. No part of her body moved save for her lips, which made her look very much like a fish. "Am… amnesia?" she stammered as though she didn't know the meaning of the word. "Senpai has amnesia? He doesn't remember m… anything?"

"Well, I remember everything up to my third year in middle school," Keitaro clarified. He rubbed the back of his head. "But nothing after that. I'm sorry."

Shinobu's knees buckled, but she managed to grab hold of the edge of a table before she tumbled to the ground. Kaolla quickly grabbed a chair for her, which she promptly collapsed into.

"That can't be true," she whispered. "This is just a bad joke, right, Su-chan?"

Kaolla couldn't quite bring herself to look at her friend in the eye. "It's not, Shinobu…"

"No…"

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened, though," Kaolla added. She knew it would be of little consolation to Shinobu, but still… some hope was better than none. "There are documented cases of patients who have suffered from retrograde amnesia following accidents involving trauma to the head. In almost every case, the victims regain some or all of their memories later."

Following her revelation, Kaolla saw Keitaro frown.

"_Almost_ every case?" he asked.

"A few people never get any of their memories back," admitted Kaolla. "But those cases are very rare. Statistically, the odds are in your favor."

Maybe it was just her imagination, but Keitaro didn't seem comforted by the news at all. Either he was focusing on the negative or… maybe he didn't _want_ his memories to come back.

…nah. It was almost certainly the former explanation. Keitaro always saw the best in people, except for himself.

"Don't stress over it too much," Kaolla advised. "Either way, it's outside of your control. Really, we should just be thankful you didn't get anterograde amnesia. That would've prevented you from forming _new_ long-term memories, which is much, much worse. You'd stay frozen in time as your twenty year old self forever, unable to remember any experiences you had or people you met after the accident. As you aged, eventually you wouldn't even recognize your reflection in the mirror anymore."

Keitaro shuddered. "That's a scary thought. Not to mention it would probably kill my chances of ever passing the Toudai entrance exams. Failing three times is more than enough."

Kaolla cocked an eyebrow. "You remember those?"

"Nah," Keitaro shook his head. "Aunt Haruka- OW! …H-Haruka filled me in."

"Su-chan," Shinobu interrupted. She had that "who the heck are you and what have you done with Kaolla Su" look on her face, again. "How do you know so much?"

Kaolla considered the different ways she could answer the ambiguous question. She could play dumb, but knew she'd already gone well past the point of plausible deniability. She could come clean straight out, but where was the fun in that?

So she conjured up the least believable explanations she could imagine and gave those a shot.

"I'm an alien!" she cackled madly. Which was technically true. Though, the term "gaijin" was more popular in these parts. "Or more accurately, I'm the humanoid interface of a highly advanced, sentient space-faring life form, sent to Earth to live among you in order to study your species and discover the secret of how you evolved!"

Shinobu looked highly unimpressed.

"Oh, so you caught my lie," said Kaolla, moving on to her next idea. "Fine, I admit it. I'm actually a time traveler from the future, sent to this period to investigate a mysterious disturbance that could potentially destroy the space-time continuum."

Shinobu rolled her eyes.

"I'm an esper with neato psychic powers?"

Shinobu yawned.

"I'm an omnipotent, all-powerful being who can manipulate reality at a whim, though I look like an ordinary, if overly hyperactive, schoolgirl!"

"Where are you coming up with this stuff?" Shinobu asked, half-exasperated and half-impressed. "Do you really expect me to believe that nonsense?"

"You believed it when you found out I was a princess from the royal family of an obscure, little-known foreign country you'd probably never even heard of before who transforms into a magical girl when the moon is red," shrugged Kaolla.

Huh. When she said it out loud like that, even _she_ thought it sounded silly… It certainly put things into perspective when one's life resembled a children's animated television series.

Gosh, could she even take herself seriously if she _wanted_ to, now? Then again, it never bothered her before. Why start now? To hell with that.

"Wait, Kaolla-san is a princess?" Keitaro asked, eyebrows creeping up over the outer edge of his glasses.

"I thought she was," answered Shinobu, who was now frowning at Kaolla. "But now I'm not so sure. It does sound pretty unbelievable when you put it like that."

"For the record, I _am_ the princess of Molmol," stated Kaolla. "And that red moon thing is totally legit, too. It's kind of like being drunk… I think. I've never been drunk before, so I wouldn't know."

"What made you say that, then?" asked Shinobu.

"Maybe the adult 'me' has been drunk before and the memories are buried in my subconscious?" Kaolla offered.

Shinobu stared at Kaolla for a long time. If the foreigner had been the type, she would have gotten self-conscious, but instead she started making poses when she got bored.

Finally, Shinobu sighed and shook her head. "I can't tell if you're being serious or not."

"When in doubt, assume 'not'," Kaolla told her. "That might be the only serious advice I'll ever give you."

Keitaro burst out laughing. "You're really interesting, Kaolla-san!"

Kaolla's eyes twinkled madly. "Thanks, Keitaro. I try."

"Wait!" Shinobu huffed. She really was adorable when she got flustered. "Su-chan, have you just been pretending this whole time? Did you just want us to believe you were a… a…"

"…an idiot?" Kaolla supplied.

Shinobu nodded.

"Of course not!" Kaolla replied truthfully. "Do you think I get those Mecha Tamas from a mail-order catalog? Or any of the other neat stuff I'm always playing with? Have you ever thought about how much effort actually goes into designing, building, and testing those things? It's not like I've ever tried to keep them a secret, either."

Shinobu looked dumbfounded. "I… I suppose I never thought about it like that. But still… why didn't you ever say anything before?"

"No reason to," Kaolla shrugged. "You guys have always been good to me even when I'm a real brat. Not that I'm saying I was taking advantage of your kindness. I just… liked the way things were. Why risk losing that? Besides, how many times did anyone really try to talk to me?"

"Oh, Su-chan," Shinobu whispered. One of her hands obscured her mouth from view but her eyes looked mortified. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Kaolla waved it off. "I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty or anything. You don't have to talk to enjoy the company of others. Like I said, I was fine with the way things were."

"So what's changed, then?" asked Keitaro. Kaolla nearly jumped. As nice a guy as Keitaro was, he wasn't usually so quick on the uptake. The young inventor shifted uncomfortably. Actually, she'd been hoping nobody would notice that part.

"Su-chan?" Shinobu chimed in, adding her expectant gaze to Keitaro's. Even Haruka, who had not spoken for quite some time, seemed to be waiting for an answer.

Kaolla sighed, something she very rarely ever did. "You did," she said, pointing at Keitaro. "You used to occasionally joke about your supposed 'invincibility' but I actually _believed_ you were invincible, as irrational as that sounds. You won't remember this, but I used to test all of my prototype inventions on you, even the heavy munitions stuff."

Keitaro blanched. "H-Heavy munitions? You mean like… guns?"

"Guns," confirmed Kaolla. "Explosives. Even some biological stuff. Gas, only. No pathogens. Even I don't dabble in those. Genetics isn't my area of expertise, anyway. I prefer robotics and mechanical engineering."

"E-Explosives?!"

"Well I didn't _start_ with those," said Kaolla. "Again, you won't remember this but when we first met, I was playing with some toy tanks. Their shells were really just rubber bullets, but they should still have left some nasty whelps on your skin. Not to mention the things Naru did to you."

Keitaro swallowed heavily.

"But you didn't even have a scratch on you! So that got me thinking about what your threshold might be. I gradually increased the… for lack of a better term, 'deadliness', of the weapons I tested on you and yet the stuff that would probably injure or…"

She trailed off, deciding to omit the use of the word 'terminate'.

"…incapacitate less robust human beings had very little effect on you. I thus concluded you'd be the perfect test subject for my inventions, seeing as you alone could provide me with a living, sentient target from which I could gather accurate combat data and survive the process. Any moral qualms I might have had were justified by my belief that ultimately my homeland would benefit greatly from the fruits of our labor and I would be able to compensate you for your troubles once Molmol entered the political landscape as a world power."

Keitaro let out a strangled laugh. "You're not serious, right, Kaolla-san? 'When in doubt, assume not'. That's what you said."

Kaolla grimaced, another thing she almost never did. "That won't work for this case. Everything I've just told you is true. A part of me knew that what I was doing wasn't ethical, but I thought the end justified the means. I know that must sound like such a feeble excuse to you, but all I've ever wanted to do is help my homeland. We don't have produce or manufacture any goods that would make profitable exports and everyone knows that a country isn't taken seriously unless they have money or a bigger gun than the next guy. I thought I could do anything as long as it was for Molmol. Even if ninety-nine point nine percent of the world has never heard of it, I love the land where I was born."

She cast her eyes downward, unable to look at Keitaro.

"I know I was wrong, now. I want to help my country, but not at the expense of my friend. When I saw you laying unconscious last night, Keitaro, I thought about how easily it could have been me who did that to you. Even if Molmol joined the U.N. and we finally got acknowledged as a legitimate country, if the price of that was your life…"

She shook her head. "I would never, ever forgive myself. I'm sorry, Keitaro, for everything I've ever done to you. All you ever did was try to be my friend, and I took advantage of you. I will always regret that for the rest of my life."

"A-Anyway, rest assured that I'm never going to do that again," she continued, choking up a little. She didn't cry, though. When she was barely higher than her father's knee, he'd told her: the crown princess of Molmol must never cry. He made her promise. Since then, she'd never shed a single tear, not even at his funeral. "I want to help you, from now on, Keitaro. In whatever capacity I can. Last night was an eye-opener for me and I want to make sure something like that never happens to you again. Gandhi once said 'be the change you want to see in this world'. All I want is to have the chance to do just that."

She stuck out her hand tentatively. "So, can we just start over? Please?"

Keitaro didn't even pause. He clasped her hand firmly in his own. "We already have, Kaolla-san. Need I remind you: amnesia?"

Kaolla smiled gratefully. "Oh yeah, huh? I guess I… forgot."

They both chuckled at the terrible joke and a weight lifted from Kaolla's shoulders. She felt lighter than she could ever remember.

"By the way," she said, "you might want to get used to calling me 'Su-chan'. Not that I mind being called by my first name for once, but it's bound to raise a few eyebrows around the apartment if you start behaving differently."

"Wait, Su-chan," Shinobu interrupted. "I thought your name was 'Kaolla Su'? Doesn't that make 'Kaolla' your surname?"

"Nah," said Kaolla. "Molmol uses western naming convention. The person's given name comes first, then surname."

"But we've been calling you 'Su-chan' all this time!" said an exasperated Shinobu. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"You never asked?" shrugged Kaolla. "It doesn't bother me, to be honest. Just call me 'Su-chan', like always. The fewer questions the other girls ask, the better."

"Ahem," Haruka cleared her throat gently, as if to remind them of her presence. "I don't believe I said I'd cooperate with you. I intend to tell Naru, Motoko, and Kitsune exactly what happened unless you make a very convincing case for why I should do otherwise."

Kaolla made a face. "I guess stubbornness runs in the family." She almost sighed, but stopped herself. It wasn't something she wanted to get in the habit of doing. She'd already done it once today, and that was more than enough. "Fine, Haruka. You want to know how keeping Keitaro's amnesia a secret would do more good than harm, right?"

Haruka nodded.

Kaolla could understand the older woman's skepticism. There really wasn't any rational basis to justify perpetrating a conspiracy that seemed almost destined to blow up in their faces. But hell, rationality wasn't everything. Sometimes one need to believe in others. Trust was definitely the issue here, which was rather ironic considering Kaolla intended to lie to three of her closest friends.

Kaolla ended up sighing again despite her best efforts. She really hoped she was doing the right thing. "I want them to realize they're wrong, but for the _right_ reasons," she said. "If they see how badly they screwed up this time, that doesn't really solve the underlying problem. They'll just be walking on eggshells and avoid confronting the real issue, which isn't so much that they pummel or extort Keitaro at every opportunity, but _why_ they do it in the first place."

Haruka raised an eyebrow, evidently intrigued. "Go on…"

"If we march up there right now and come clean about everything, then we lose the opportunity to let them examine themselves. They'll just see they hurt Keitaro and then avoid doing it again. That sounds desirable enough, but it's just negative conditioning. They won't hurt him anymore, but they won't think about what made them used to hurt him. They won't have any reason or opportunity to question their own motives. It's not the ideal solution."

"So what _is_ the ideal solution then?" Haruka asked.

"We act as if nothing happened," said Kaolla. "You should've seen Shinobu give those three what they had coming. She already has the ball rolling for us."

Kaolla gave a brief summary of the events she'd witness in the main house, not very long ago, keeping things as unspectacular as possible for Shinobu's sake. Even then, the little cook's ears flushed a charming shade of pink.

"We won't even have to keep the secret for very long. Shinobu gave them one month until they have to answer. At that point, it doesn't matter if we spill the beans. All I'm asking for is one month."

Kaolla straightened, standing straight as a pole. She saluted Haruka. "And you have my word that I won't allow anyone to so much as lay a finger on Keitaro in that time. I swear it on my honor, the Su family's honor, and my father's grave."

"Me too!" added Shinobu, stepping forward and offering the same salute. "I won't let them hurt Senpai ever again! So please, Haruka-san…"

At that point, Keitaro added his voice to theirs. "You said I could have a say, right, Au… Haruka? Well, I don't really know what's going on or the meaning behind any of it, but this feels like the right thing to do to me."

Haruka growled at them and crossed her arms. "That enough out of all three of you!"

"But, Haruka!"

"Please, Haruka-san!"

"Aunt Haruka, please…"

"Just shut up for a minute!" barked Haruka in a tone that would brook no argument. "Do you have any idea the chances you actually have of pulling that crap off? Naru, Motoko, and Kitsune aren't stupid. If anything, I'd be expecting _them_ to be the ones fooling _you_."

She shot a look a Kaolla. The middle school student didn't quite understand the intent behind it, but nevertheless felt it was somehow significant.

"And that's why I want you to be _extra_ careful. You'd better cover your asses from every angle, or I'll come down on you like a hammer."

Kaolla grinned so wide she felt her cheeks might tear open. "Alright! Haruka's on board!"

"Haruka-san," Shinobu sobbed, wiping a single tear from her eye. "Thank you."

And so Kaolla, Shinobu, and Haruka spent the next hour drilling Keitaro with the basics of life at Hinata Sou, including but not limited to: his responsibilities as apartment manager, how to address each of his charges, and a brief synopsis of the various misadventures he'd had with the rest of the girls.

"Urgh…" Keitaro groaned. "I'm not sure if I can remember all this…"

"Don't sweat it, Keitaro!" Su laughed as she slapped him on the back. "You have me and Shinobu to back you up!"

"We'll get through it together, Senpai," Shinobu agreed.

"That's enough for now," said Haruka. "Trying to cram in any more information at this point would just be a waste of time."

"Looks like it's time to throw you in the deep end of the pool, Keitaro!" grinned Kaolla. "But don't worry, we'll be right behind you."

"O-Okay," Keitaro gulped. "Thanks, Su-chan. Thanks, Shinobu-chan. Thanks, Aunt- OW!"

"How is it that you get their names right but not mine?" Haruka snarled.

"S-Sorry!"

"Actually, that's perfect," said Su, not bothering to stifle her giggles. "OW! Hey!"

"Shut up, brat."

"I hope you realize you just assaulted the crown princess of Molmol. That's a capital offense- OW!"

"I think I preferred you as the happy idiot. At least you didn't talk back, then."

Kaolla pouted as she rubbed her head. Damn that Haruka. And damn that paper fan. Getting smacked by it hurt a lot more than it looked.

"Okay, time's up. You better put on a good show, kiddo, or I'm pulling the plug on this production."

"I'll do my best…"

Kaolla took point as she led their group out of the tea house and up the steps to the main house. She stopped just outside the doors.

"Something wrong, Su-chan?" asked Keitaro.

Kaolla turned to face him. She'd almost forgotten! "You bet there is!"

She sprung up at Keitaro, nearly knocking him over as she clung to his upper torso and buried her face into his chest. Then she gave him a chaste peck on the cheek and smiled.

"Welcome back, Keitaro!"

* * *

A/N: This chapter was difficult to write. Su is a very flat, two-dimensional character in canon and I wanted to find a compromise that gave her a bit of depth without making her seem completely out of character. I'm not sure if I was too successful. I suppose I'll leave that to my readers to decide.


	4. Past and Present

**Forget and Forgive**

Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu.

A/N: Well that was a short turnaround for an update, wasn't it? Two reasons: 1) I had time to write, and 2) This chapter came pretty easily once I got the ball rolling. Don't count on future updates being this quick, though.

**Chapter 4 – Past and Present**

"Girls, we have a guest!"

Keitaro took a deep breath. As he stood in the foyer of the building he remembered so fondly as a child, he took solace in knowing that at least not everything about his new life was unfamiliar. He half-expected Granny Hina to come waddling out of the kitchen with a tray of hot tea and cookies. Granny always made the best cookies, though Haruka often took the lion's share. Back then his bossy young cousin (who'd insisted he call her "Aunt") was always leading him around by the nose.

He supposed some things never changed. Well, except for the part about calling her "Aunt", anyway…

In any case, this wasn't the time to be reminiscing. Keitaro was keenly aware that he was hardly a master of subterfuge. If he was to have any chance of succeeding in the ruse he'd so impulsively agreed to participate in, he needed every bit of concentration he could muster.

Naru Narusegawa. His study mate and fellow Toudai aspirant. She was the top examinee in the nation on the Toudai mock exams and attended the same cram school as himself. Resident of Room 304.

Mitsune Konno, "Kitsune" to her friends. She was out of school and currently making a living as a freelance writer. Resident of Room 205.

Motoko Aoyama. Third year middle school student and heiress to the Shinmeiryuu school of swordsmanship. Resident of Room 302.

He went through their names and backgrounds in his head one last time.

"Girls!" Haruka barked again when her summons went unheeded. "Keitaro's back from the hospital!"

The ground rumbled. Half a heartbeat later a young lady halted at the base of the staircase.

Keitaro swallowed, though not out of nervousness. Quite simply, the girl was stunning. Long honey-chestnut hair draped onto her shoulders, cascading over them like sheets of elegant, flowing water.

No, "girl" wasn't the right term. She was definitely a "woman". Even through her loose-fitting blouse, he could see that she was well-endowed. She wore a short skirt with stockings and her fine, shapely legs seemed to stretch on forever… His mind went completely blank.

Paradise. He must have died and gone to heaven. Now this angel, the very picture of beauty, was here to escort him through the pearly gates where he would spend the rest of eternity basking in the bliss of her radiance.

And then the illusion faded. His image of an angel faded into that of a timid, hiccupping young woman. Only then did he notice the outer edges of her eyes were red and swollen and the deep, black lines that underlined them. A feeling Keitaro didn't recognize stirred within him. Suddenly he wanted to hold this woman in his arms and never let go.

Then that feeling, too, faded, as suddenly as it had come.

Having regained his senses, he coughed awkwardly and said, "Hi, Narusegawa." The photo Haruka had shown him of Narusegawa had _not_ done the young woman any justice.

He wasn't prepared when, for the third time that day, he was tackled with the force of a locomotive.

"Keitaro, you're okay!" Narusegawa wailed as she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so sorry, Keitaro! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry…"

A wet, warm sensation spread across his shoulder. He stared down at the sobbing girl who was endlessly stringing together "sorry" after "sorry". Before he realized what he was doing or could even think of stopping himself, his right hand moved of its own accord and started stroking her long, silky hair.

Gradually, Narusegawa's sobs subsided but even after she had stopped completely, she did not withdraw from her embrace. Keitaro had no idea what else to do, so he returned it. The warmth of her body seeped into his own.

He didn't know who exactly this girl was beyond her name and what Su and the others had shared with him, and he didn't know what exactly she meant to him, but only just now at that very moment did he feel the tiniest pang of regret over his lost memories.

"Urashima… I am… relieved to see that you have returned."

A new voice greeted him, one belonging to a black-haired beauty of unmatched grace and refinement. She was unusually tall, particularly a Japanese woman, and towered above her contemporaries. More than her height though, she radiated an aura that made her seem larger than life. Even Keitaro felt small compared to her, though he must have been taller by at least a couple of centimeters.

"It's good to see you too, Motoko-chan," he said. "Good" didn't begin to describe it. Again, the photo had done no justice at all.

It was the strangest thing. There he was, surrounded by a veritable harem of attractive women and yet instead of feeling nervous, which by his past experiences with girls should have been completely off the scale in this situation, he'd never felt more at peace.

"Where's Kitsune?" Haruka asked when the last remaining tenant didn't appear.

"I believe she is still in her room, Haruka-san," Motoko answered, brushing aside a stray lock of hair as she did so. Keitaro stared, mesmerized.

It was official. His life kicked ass.

"What's she doing in there?" Haruka demanded. "Keitaro is back, practically from the grave, and she doesn't care enough to come down and see him?"

"I am not privy to the reasons for her absence, Haruka-san," said Motoko. Then she turned back to Keitaro. "Urashima, I… must apologize for my behavior last night. It was… unseemly, to say the least."

The details Keitaro had received about the previous night were sparse. He only knew Narusegawa was the one directly responsible for the injuries he'd suffered, while Motoko and Kitsune shared in some peripheral responsibility. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to bear them any ill will. Not when he didn't even remember what exactly they had done to him.

"Don't worry about it, Motoko-chan," he told her. "I've already forgotten about it."

Motoko shook her head. "That is kind of you to say, but I cannot forget so easily. You saved my life last night, Urashima. I now owe you a debt and I intend to repay it. If there is anything you desire of me, simply name it and I will grant your wish if it is within my power."

Keitaro didn't know what to make of her words. He saved her life? Nobody had mentioned that. And now someone owed him a life debt. That was so cool! It was just like in those samurai movies he used to watch with his dad.

Just to reiterate: His. Life. Kicked. Ass!

"I'm not sure about any of that," he said modestly. "I mean, unless you can help me pass the Toudai entrance exam, there's nothing that I really want."

"I am afraid that is beyond the scope of my abilities," Motoko frowned. "Is there nothing else you can think of?"

He considered it. Well, he wouldn't mind going out on a date with such an alluring young woman… No! That was definitely his libido talking and _bad_ things happened when he listened to his libido. Besides, using a life debt to force someone to go out on a date with him not only seemed dishonorable, but it also made him feel like a loser.

"No," he sighed. "Just forget it, Motoko-chan."

"My honor demands that I repay you for your selfless deed," Motoko insisted. "Please, I will do anything."

_Stop being a big baby! A date! Ask her for a date!_ _She said _anything! _Think about that! _**Anything!**

"Well, actually, a date-" he started to say before clamping his own mouth shut. He'd almost done it! Damn his libido! That little monster almost screwed him over, again!

_Dude, are you gay? A hot chick says she'll do _anything_ for you and you're just going to let this chance slip you by?_

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!

_You know, at this rate, you're going to be a virgin forever._

Burst into flames! Burst into flames and DIE!

_It'll probably be on your tombstone in big, bold letters: V-I-R-G-I-N. Here lies a stupid fuck who never got laid once in his entire life._

"A date?" Motoko cocked her head to the side quizzically.

Thinking faster than he ever thought before, Keitaro said, "Yeah, you know… Can we postpone this for a later date? Like a rain check?"

"Oh," mouthed Motoko, nodding sagely. "Of course. I apologize. I did not intend to force you to make a decision this very moment."

_But I bet you wouldn't mind that, eh? Being forced, that is…_

Just shut up already! I am NOT an animal!

…_says the guy who still hasn't let go of the leggy brunette with the nice rack._

Keitaro flinched, suddenly acutely aware of the fact he still had Narusegawa in his arms. He gently, but very deliberately, pried her off.

"Maybe I should go up and check on Kitsune-san," he said hastily, latching onto the first decent excuse he could think of to leave the room. He didn't know what he might wind up doing at the rate things were going… and he was he twenty years old now in body, if not in mind. He no longer had the excuse of raging teenage hormones. Maybe the girls who'd spurned him in the past were right.

He was a pervert.

_Nah, you're a _male. _Not that there's much of a difference._

Would you shut up already? "Chicks" hardly find guys who talk to imaginary voices in their head to be suitable boyfriend material.

…ahhh. That was better.

"Did you want us to come with you, Senpai?" Shinobu asked. She looked up to him, eyes shimmering with concern.

Damn, did she have that "cute underclassman" look down pat. Maybe the curves weren't all there yet, but in a few years…

Hmm. He really needed a cold shower.

Or a therapist, maybe. A smoking hot female therapist…

Ahem. Or just a cold shower. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

"No need," Keitaro assured her. "I can handle it." Probably. At least dealing with one pretty girl sounded easier than four. "Don't worry about me. Say, it's starting to get kinda late. Have you all eaten yet?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Perfect," he nodded. "Why don't you ladies go do that and I'll go fetch Kitsune-san and then we'll both join you."

"But I haven't prepared anything today," Shinobu said. "It'll take a while to cook a meal for seven people."

Keitaro gaped at her. "You prepare the meals here all by yourself?"

Motoko and Narusegawa shot confused glances at him. Su waved her hands and then drew her thumb in a horizontal line across her neck.

"I-I mean, why not let us all help for once?" he amended quickly. "I can chop vegetables okay and simple stuff like that. I'm sure things will go faster with everyone lending a hand."

"That sounds like a great idea," Haruka said. "It's about time the rest of you started pulling your own weight around here."

"But I can't cook to save my life!" Narusegawa yelped. "One time I managed to start a fire just trying to boil water!"

Keitaro laughed before he could stop himself.

"I'm serious!" Narusegawa growled, glaring at him. Then her expression softened and she looked down to the ground, abashed. "We used to order take-out all the time before Shinobu moved in."

"Oh, right, I remember that," Haruka said thoughtfully. "I'll be supervising you myself, then. No burning down the place on my watch. Everyone into the kitchen. Keitaro, go drag Kitsune out of bed. If she doesn't budge, kick her in the head a few times and say it's from me."

Keitaro stifled a chuckle and made for the stairs, but felt a tug of his arm. He turned and saw Haruka shake her head at him. They both lingered in the entrance hall after the girls went to start breakfast.

"You slipped up towards the end, there," she told him in a low whisper. "One or two mistakes won't raise any alarms, but make it a habit and this is all going to blow up in our faces."

"I'll be more careful from now on," Keitaro said apologetically.

"You'd better," Haruka replied. "Just watch your tongue around Kitsune. She likes to play the fool but she's subtle as a snake. If she gets a whiff of any bullshit, she'll try to wheedle everything out of you and she won't care how she does it. This is going to be your first real test. Don't blow it."

"I know," Keitaro said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "You already told me this."

"And I'm telling you again," Haruka snapped. "You won't be able to count on one of us always being there to cover for you."

"I'm doing okay so far, aren't I?" Keitaro insisted stubbornly. "Give me a little credit. I can handle this."

"Fine," said Haruka as she turned to leave. "Just don't get cocky, or I'm going to be the one to bust you back down a few notches."

Keitaro nodded soberly. "Is that all?"

"One last thing," Haruka muttered, already walking in the opposite direction. She stopped just before the doorway to the kitchen. "Good luck." Then she said more loudly, "Alright, girls, get ready for boot camp!"

A chorus of groans was her response.

It was with a smile when Keitaro headed up the steps to the second floor. He had a feeling Haruka would make a good mom someday. Though… she'd probably hit him if he said that to her face.

He could vaguely remember the inn's layout and seemed to recall Room 205 was across from Granny Hina's room. He supposed it was _his_ room now. Now that was an odd, though cheering, thought. It wouldn't hurt to take a quick peek inside, would it?

Sliding the door open, he stepped over his lumpy futon which he apparently had not put away the previous day. It seemed a bit out of place in the midst of the otherwise tidy, if somewhat spartan room furnishings. Keitaro didn't know what he'd really been expecting, but he found himself disappointed that the décor didn't have a little more character.

His attention shifted to a desk in the corner with a neat row of books stacked side by side. Most of them looked like study materials for the Toudai entrance exam, but one with handwritten lettering on the spine caught his eye.

_Print Club Photos_. He picked it up, turning over the cover to the first page.

His intrigue quickly turned to disgust when he saw that every single photo inside was of himself. Didn't he make any friends in high school? What kind of pathetic loser filled a photo book with pictures of himself? After flipping halfway through, he'd seen enough of his own oblivious, goofy grin. Curling his lower lip in contempt, he tossed the book into the trash bin.

Five years worth of memories and that was all he had to show for it? Had his sense of self-worth eroded so much over that short span of time? Five years of life without really living. He felt furious at himself, at his _future_ self. What a waste. What a sorry excuse for a human being.

He clenched his jaw. He would _not_ go back to being that person. If he had to take a sledgehammer to his own head and induce another coma, he refused to allow that to happen.

Still simmering, he turned to leave only to trip over his futon. He tumbled to the floor, hitting something firm on his way down.

"Ouch! Watch it!"

The voice came muffled from under the covers. Hmm. Either he had a magical talking futon, or…

He lifted up a corner flap. Underneath was a woman with short, sandy blonde hair and _huge_… er… hands. She was rubbing her side, where he'd accidentally stepped on her.

"What's the big idea, Keitaro?" she griped. "I was just trying to catch a few Z's before you got home, ya big lummox! Now you've gone and-" She blinked. "Keitaro, is that you?"

"Er… yeah," Keitaro said, recoiling back from the pungent stench of the woman's breath. "Why are you sleeping in my room… Kitsune-san?"

Drowsy bloodshot eyes, a disheveled mop of hair, and soiled clothes that reeked of sweat and alcohol were not a flattering look for Kitsune. Her photo had been one of a playful, seductive woman with bright eyes and a mischievous smile. Under the circumstances, he'd barely been able to recognize her.

"I was waiting for you," Kitsune said in a rough, throaty voice. If she didn't smell like urine, Keitaro might have found it sexy. "I wanted to tell you…" She made a gulping sound like a floundering fish. "I wanted to say sorry… I'm sorry, Keitaro."

Not that he didn't appreciate the sentiment, but he _really_ wished people would stop telling him that already.

"Don't worry about it," Keitaro said. It was becoming an almost automatic response. "Never mind that, Kitsune-san. You don't look so good…"

"You take that back!" Kitsune growled, suddenly belligerent. "I am dead sexy, and you know it! Here, just have a feel."

She took his hand and forcefully placed it on her breast.

"Now tell me I don't look good!"

Ordinarily, this would have been the stuff of Keitaro's wet dreams but he'd always imagined the girl as being less… drunk. As it was, the whole situation felt completely wrong.

"You look fantastic," Keitaro said unenthusiastically, withdrawing his hand. "Now maybe you should go back to sleep, Kitsune-san. I'm sorry I bothered you."

"I'm not sleepy," Kitsune whined. "And you haven't accepted my apology. I said I was sorry, Keitaro. You believe me, right?"

"Yes," Keitaro said as soothingly as he could. "Apology accepted. Now go back to bed."

"You didn't mean that," Kitsune complained, inconsolable. "You don't even know what I did. Shinobu knows, though. She didn't forgive me, either. She hates me. Everyone hates me."

Keitaro frowned. "Shinobu couldn't hate a fly," he said. He'd only known the timid girl for about two hours and he was already certain of that. "And I don't hate you, either."

"Well you should," Kitsune slurred. "I hate me, too. I dunno why I do that sleazy stuff, I just do! It wasn't even funny, this time. Watching you… watching you…" She began to retch, but nothing came up.

Keitaro rubbed her back. "Easy, easy. Can you stand? We should get you to the bathroom."

"I don't need to use the goddamned toilet!" Kitsune bellowed. "Just leave me alone!"

Keitaro had no problem granting that request. To be honest, he was starting to panic. "Okay, I'll leave now, Kitsune-san. Try to get some rest."

"Wait!" she cried in anguish as he rose to leave, pulling him back down with terrifying force. He lost his balance and fell face forward. He planted both hands just above Kitsune's shoulders to break his fall.

"Don't leave me, Keitaro," she pleaded, clinging to his right arm for dear life. "I'm sorry I yelled. Please, stay."

Keitaro swallowed. "Okay, Kitsune-san," he mumbled nervously. "If that's what you want."

"Yes," she said, tightening her grip on him. "Stay. Don't leave. Please."

"Okay, just calm down. I'm not going anywhere," Keitaro assured her, even as he prayed that someone would come up and rescue him from his current predicament. Even when women evidently _liked_ him, he _still_ had rotten luck with them, it seemed.

"Kitsune-san, do you think you could let go of me now?" he pleaded.

Kitsune said nothing in response. She'd already drifted back to unconsciousness while still clamping his arm in a vice grip. Keitaro lay there, helpless to free himself as long as Kitsune clung to him, with no idea of how to react or what to do.

_Please, somebody find me,_ he willed silently. _Aunt Haruka. Su-chan. Anybody._

Then he heard the voice of his savior.

"Keitaro, are you up here?" It sounded like… Narusegawa! "I snuck out of the kitchen when Haruka wasn't looking. What's taking you so long?"

"Narusegawa!" he called out in desperation. "I could use a little help, here. I'm in my room with Kitsune-san. She's drunk and acting really weird."

"Again?" Narusegawa sighed, sounding as though this was a perfectly common occurrence. Her footsteps grew closer. "What is it this time? Did she pass out again? …Eh?!"

He locked eyes with Narusegawa just as she entered his doorway. She froze on the spot, a state of pure shock painted on her face. Then, gradually, she turned red and a tic above her left eyebrow began to twitch. She clenched a fist and for one frightful moment, Keitaro feared she might hit him.

Then her eyes widened in horror and she seemed to think better of it. She took several deep breaths, relaxed her balled hand, and calmed herself back down to a reasonable level.

"I'm going to assume there's a good explanation for this," Narusegawa said matter-of-factly. "I'm going to help you up, we'll both put Kitsune back in her own room, and then you're going to explain to me exactly what happened. Okay, Keitaro?"

"Y-Yes," Keitaro stuttered, somehow feeling he had dodged a bullet despite the fact he had done nothing wrong.

* * *

"…and then she fell back asleep and I was stuck there until you came along."

Narusegawa scratched her head from across Keitaro's kotatsu back in his room, looking equal parts confused and exasperated. "That's pretty extreme, even for Kitsune. I haven't seen her like this for a long time."

"You mean she's been like this before?" Keitaro marveled.

"A few times, before you came here," Narusegawa nodded. "Come to think of it… she stopped drinking as much after you became manager…"

"Well, what should we do about it?" Keitaro asked.

"There's really not much we _can_ do, I'm afraid," Narusegawa frowned. "I've done everything I could think of in the past. I've tried talking to her, going with her to sign up for AA, pouring all her drinks down the drain, dragging her to therapy. Nothing ever sticks. She's gotten a lot better recently, though she's never quit completely, and I thought she might be turning a corner but…"

She sighed.

"It looks like we're back to square one, again."

"You don't suppose this might have something to do with what happened last night, do you?" Keitaro asked, remembering Kitsune's words about 'not knowing what she did'.

"That's a possibility," Narusegawa admitted. "She didn't really have anything to do with what happened, though… I guess it could've been the stress from when you were hospitalized. She definitely wasn't the only one who was worried. I could probably have used a drink, myself."

Keitaro's ears perked up. "Really?"

"Of course," said Naru, looking him straight in the eye. "Look, I know I'm not very good at showing it sometimes, Keitaro, but I really… care about you."

She smiled at him and he felt his heart skip a beat.

"Thanks, Narusegawa," Keitaro said earnestly. "It makes me really happy to hear you say that."

She flushed with embarrassment. "Well… I mean it." Then her expression sobered. "Keitaro… about earlier… I'm sorry. I overreacted again and I only just barely managed to stop myself. If Shinobu hadn't given us that talk this morning…"

Her voice trailed off. When she spoke again, it was barely above and whisper and Keitaro had to strain to hear her.

"Keitaro, I know I'm not a very patient person. You've suffered in the past because of it, especially last night… I know I must seem like this horrible, angry, violent girl. I hate the part of myself that hurts you and most of the time I don't even know why I do it! All I know is that I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to change. I just… I don't really have any idea where to start."

Keitaro remained silent. He really had no idea what to say to that. All he knew was that those words made him feel restless, as though agitating a metaphorical itch that he just couldn't scratch.

What did he mean to Narusegawa? What did she mean to him? He didn't remember. A part of him wanted to, but then he thought of the photo book filled with nothing but pictures of himself. No, he didn't want those memories. The memories of that contemptible coward. He was gone, and he wouldn't be coming back.

Keitaro would sooner die than let that happen.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Narusegawa's voice snapped him back to reality. When he became aware of his surroundings again, he saw that she had moved and was now sitting adjacent to him.

"Yeah," he replied, thinking over what she'd said. "You said you wanted to change but you don't know how. I don't really know how either, Narusegawa. This might not be something I can help you with. For what it's worth I think if you really want to change, I believe you can do it. But more importantly, I think _you_ have to believe you can do it."

"Believe in myself, huh?" Narusegawa smiled wryly. "That sounds so cheesy. But… thanks, Keitaro. As much as I hate to admit it, I don't really know if I _can_ change. But if I don't at least try, I know I _won't_."

Keitaro smiled. "You sound like a fortune cookie."

Narusegawa growled and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Hey, I was being serious!"

He chuckled. "I know. Just trying to lighten the mood. You looked so sad when you said that. I like it better when you smile."

"Now _you_ sound like a cheap romance flick," Narusegawa shot back though there wasn't any heat to it, besides that of her reddening cheeks.

"See?" Keitaro laughed. "That's better."

"Oh, geez," Narusegawa sighed, unable to even pretend to be angry with him. "You're just _too_ nice for your own good, Keitaro. It would be easier sometimes if you weren't."

Keitaro waggled his eyebrows. "But that's what you like about me, right?" He expected her to fire another snappy comeback. Or at least get embarrassed again. But to his surprise, she merely nodded and then rested her head against his shoulder.

"Yeah," Narusegawa whispered gently. "That's what I like about you, Keitaro."

Keitaro felt his own face grow hot at the admission. He didn't say anything for a while, and neither did Narusegawa. They simply enjoyed each others' company in comfortable silence.

It wasn't long, however, until a guest dropped in on them, unannounced.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

Both young adults shots straight up, averting their gazes in opposite directions as a tinge of pink traveled up both their necks.

"I guess I did," the newcomer snickered unrepentantly, stepping into the room.

"Haruka!" Narusegawa yelped. "I… um…"

"Save it," Haruka said. "Things started to go more smoothly after you snuck off, anyway. Breakfast is ready, you two. Hurry down before Su eats it all." She scanned the room and frowned. "Where's Kitsune?"

"She's sleeping off a drinking binge," Narusegawa explained. "We should probably just leave her be."

Haruka sighed. "Why am I not surprised? Fine, I guess it'll just be the six of us, then."

"I'll go fix a plate and leave it in the fridge for her." Narusegawa stood up and left, leaving only Keitaro and Haruka in the room. Neither said anything at first.

Then Haruka smirked, "So, you and Naru, hmm?"

Keitaro made himself scarce. "I am SO not talking about this with my Aunt!"

Shortly thereafter… "OUCH!"

* * *

A/N: First, allow me to preempt the inevitable "Is this going to be a Kei/Naru pairing?" question by saying: Maybe "yes", maybe "no". You'll have to keep reading to find out. I _will_ confirm that a pairing is going to be made clear at some point and no, it won't be a harem.

Second, to all of the extremely vocal Naru haters out there: If you hate canon Naru, fine. I'm not trying to change your mind about her. However, in my story I'm trying to portray a Naru who recognizes her faults and makes a conscious effort to better herself.

I'm not going to argue that Naru can't be a small-minded, jealous little bitch sometimes. But if one chooses to focus on a person's flaws rather than their virtues and then condemns them for it, then that makes one just as small-minded of a person. And if one chooses to condemn them AFTER they acknowledge those flaws and make an earnest effort to change, then that makes the finger pointer plain ignorant.

If you really despise Naru and break into hives any time anyone portrays her as anything other than a rapacious monster who delights in snapping the necks of baby kittens, sorry to burst your bubble. Don't bother complaining to me because frankly, I don't want to hear it. If you have _constructive_ criticism that will allow me to improve my writing, I welcome it. If all you want to tell me is that the story was great until you found out Naru can behave like a halfway decent human being and now I should go die in a fire for ruining the plot, please keep it to yourself.

As always, thanks for reading.


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